Judge blocks US sanctions on UN official for backing Israel war crime charges
A federal judge in Washington, D.C. ruled that the trump governance cannot impose sanctions on Francesca Albanese, a United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, after she accused Israel of war crimes and human rights abuses in Gaza.
The case began after the State Department and Treasury announced sanctions in July 2025, claiming her statements and actions were “biased and malicious” and included urging war-crime charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court. Albanese’s family challenged the decision, arguing it caused serious, irreparable harm.
judge Richard J.Leon granted a preliminary injunction, reasoning that Albanese’s recommendations are non-binding opinions and that the family had enough substantial ties to the U.S. to recieve First Amendment protections. He also found the sanctions could lead to concrete harms affecting Albanese and her family-such as property and travel-related issues.
Albanese welcomed the ruling, while indicating that broader issues-like sanctions affecting ICC judges and Palestinian NGOs-remain unresolved.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered that the Trump administration cannot penalize U.N. official Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, who has accused Israel of war crimes and human rights abuses in Gaza.
In July 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Treasury Department announced that the United States would be imposing sanctions on Albanese. The sanctions were imposed for what Rubio called her “biased and malicious activities” in her rhetoric and actions recommending war crime charges against Israel to the International Criminal Court.
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“Albanese has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West,” Rubio said last year.
Albanese’s family challenged the Trump administration’s decision in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, saying the sanctions have caused “irreparable harms” in their personal and professional lives. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, appointed by President George W. Bush, ordered that Trump administration officials could not impose the sanctions on the U.N. official.
“Albanese has done nothing more than speak!” Leon wrote in his opinion. “It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions – they are nothing more than her opinion.”
Leon determined that Albanese, an Italian citizen, had enough substantial ties to the U.S. — considering the facts that she lived and worked here for several years, her daughter was born in the U.S., she owns a home in D.C., and she often travels to the country for her work — to conclude that she is granted First Amendment rights.
Leon opined that the sanctions had caused sufficient “irreparable harm” to Albanese, her husband, and her daughter, an American citizen, to warrant a preliminary injunction to halt their imposition. He pointed to effects on their property rights, her daughter’s ability to enter the country, and their familial relations, in his opinion.
“Plaintiffs face real, tangible harms as a result of Albanese’s designation,” Leon wrote.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the State Department for comment on the ruling.
US IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON ‘BIASED AND MALICIOUS’ UN PALESTINIAN RAPPORTEUR
Albanese, who is still serving in her role with the U.N., celebrated the ruling, saying Leon’s decision “gives me respite but the battle is not over.”
“ICC judges and Palestinian NGOs remain sanctioned with no recourse to justice,” Albanese wrote on X. “The stakes are incredibly high.”
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