US court suspends sanctions on Albanese despite campaign against her

A US court has suspended sanctions imposed on UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese.

The court said the Trump administration had likely violated her right to free speech by imposing the measures after she criticised what she described as the genocide war in Gaza.

Federal Judge Richard Leon ruled in Washington that Albanese’s residence outside the United States did not reduce the protections granted to her under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. He said the Trump administration had sought to regulate her speech because of the “idea or message ⁠expressed.” according to Reuters.

Commenting on the ruling, Albanese said: “Thanks to my daughter and my husband for standing by me to defend me, and to everyone who has helped me so far. Together we are one.”

Albanese had previously described the sanctions as part of a broader US strategy aimed at weakening “international accountability mechanisms.”

The sanctions prevent her from entering the United States or carrying out any banking transactions there.

Albanese’s husband and daughter, who is a US citizen, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in February, saying the sanctions had “effectively deprived her of banking services and made meeting her daily living needs nearly impossible.”

READ: UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese: Israeli army “most degenerate on earth”