The US will lift sanctions against Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on Palestinian rights Israel-Palestine War News

Albanese is one of several people who have been sanctioned by the US for fighting against Israel in Gaza.

The United States has lifted sanctions against the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, a week after a federal judge said it prevented her from speaking out.

Briefly on its website on Wednesday, the US Department of the Treasury listed Albanese’s name under the heading: “International Criminal Court-related Designation Removal”.

The announcement comes after US District Judge Richard Leon issued a permanent order against penalties in response written by an Albanese man and a daughter in February.

The lawsuit said the sanctions were imposed as punishment for their public advocacy against Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinians.

Leon found that the administration of President Donald Trump wanted to control the speech of the United Nations expert because of the “idea or message expressed”.

The Trump administration imposed the sanctions after accusing Albanese of “biased and malicious actions” and “lawlessness,” including urging the International Court of Justice to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

“There is no doubt that his opinion has no influence on what the ICC does – it is not just his opinion,” Leon said in his decision.

Albanese did not immediately respond to Wednesday’s announcement, but previously said the sanctions were “calculated to weaken my career”.

Albanese accepted the judge’s decision last week in a statement posted on X, thanking her husband and daughter for “stepping up to defend me” and “everyone who has helped so far”.

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions in July after Albanese published a report accuses 48 companies of participating in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, including US tech giants Microsoft, Alphabet – Google’s parent company – and Amazon.

Albanese has been working as a UN correspondent since May 2022, as one of the independent human rights experts appointed by the members of the UN Human Rights Council.

Under Trump, Washington has imposed sanctions to pressure Palestinian activists and other progressives, including action on climate change.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration were given punishments of the four fighters who are participating in the flotillas trying to break the Israeli camp in Gaza, saying, without evidence, that the organizers are trying to go to the Palestinian territory “in support of Hamas”.

Washington has also approved judges and prosecutors at the ICC in the organization’s submission construction documents to Netanyahu and Gallant.

Prosecutor at the Hague Court, Karim Khan, sued the Israeli authorities in 2024 for “crimes against humanity and war crimes” committed in Gaza.