A federal judge’s ruling that the Trump administration had likely infringed Francesca Albanese’s constitutional rights has forced Washington into a retreat. The Treasury Department has quietly removed the Italian academic’s name from its sanctions blacklist.
The United States has removed Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, from its sanctions blacklist. Her name appears under “International Criminal Court-related Designation Removal” in a notice posted on the US Treasury Department’s website.
The removal comes a week after US District Judge Richard Leon issued a temporary injunction against the sanctions, finding that the Trump administration had likely violated Albanese’s free speech rights by imposing the measures after she criticised Israel’s conduct in Gaza. The Office of Foreign Assets Control subsequently confirmed it would not implement or enforce the sanctions while the court order remained in effect.
What the sanctions had meant in practice
The sanctions, imposed by the Trump administration in July 2025 following Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s designation, had placed Albanese on a global blacklist that made it impossible for her to use major credit cards or carry out banking transactions. Washington accused her of “biased and malicious activities” and “lawfare,” citing her recommendation that the International Criminal Court issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-defence minister Yoav Gallant.
In his ruling suspending the sanctions, Judge Leon was direct. “It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions — they are nothing more than her opinion.” He added that “protecting freedom of speech is always in the public interest.”
The case was brought by her family
The legal challenge was not filed by Albanese herself but by her husband and daughter, who brought suit against the Trump administration in February 2026. They argued that the sanctions were imposed as punishment for her public advocacy on Palestinian human rights rather than for any actionable conduct. When the injunction was granted last week, Albanese posted on social media thanking her daughter and husband for “stepping up to defend me,” adding: “Together we are One.”
In a subsequent message, Albanese acknowledged the limits of the victory. “The interim decision gives me respite but the battle is not over. ICC judges and Palestinian NGOs remain sanctioned with no recourse to justice. The stakes are incredibly high.”
Who is Francesca Albanese?
Albanese is an Italian lawyer and academic who has served as UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 2022. In her role she has recommended that the ICC pursue war crimes prosecutions against both Israeli and American nationals. She also authored a report accusing 48 major US companies of complicity in what she termed Israel’s “ongoing genocidal campaign” in Gaza. She has consistently denied allegations of antisemitism, which have been levelled at her by both the Israeli government and, prior to the sanctions, by the Trump administration.
When the original sanctions were imposed in July 2025, the Coordination Committee of the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures condemned the move in the strongest terms, calling it not merely an attack on one expert but “a reflection of the continued assault of the current US administration on the entire UN system and its core values of human rights, justice, accountability and the rule of law.”
