US removes UN expert Albanese from sanctions list

The US has removed UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Human Rights Francesca Albanese from its Specially Designated Nationals list, according to the US Treasury Department's website Wednesday.

The move comes after a federal judge last week blocked the Trump administration's sanctions against Albanese, ruling they violated her First Amendment rights.

US District Judge Richard Leon granted a preliminary injunction against the sanctions, finding that the Trump administration sought to regulate her speech because of the "idea or message expressed."

Albanese, an Italian citizen living in Tunisia, was sanctioned after she encouraged the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands to pursue war crimes prosecutions against Israeli officials over their actions in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Albanese of waging a "campaign of political and economic warfare" against the US and Israel after a report by her identified corporations allegedly facilitating Israeli occupation on Palestinian lands, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Palantir.

Albanese has served as the UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza since 2022, monitoring human rights abuses against Palestinians.

The sanctions prohibited Albanese from entering the US, accessing US banking and payment systems, and engaging in business with anyone based in the country.

Albanese's husband, World Bank economist Massimiliano Cali, and their US citizen daughter filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in February.