The family of United Nations human rights rapporteur Francesca Albanese has sued the administration of United States President Donald Trump over the sanctions it imposed upon her.
Albanese’s husband and child filed the lawsuit on Thursday. It argues that the sanctions are an effort to punish Albanese for bringing attention to rights abuses Israel has perpetuated against Palestinians.
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Since 2022, Albanese, a legal scholar, has served as the special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, where she monitors human rights abuses against Palestinians. The UN Human Rights Council selected her for the position.
The Trump administration, however, sanctioned her last July, calling her “unfit” for her role and accusing her of “biased and malicious activities” against the US and its ally, Israel.
It also highlighted her work with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which, at her recommendation, issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes in Gaza.
Albanese’s family, however, defended her comments as an expression of free speech, protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
“Francesca’s expression of her views about the facts as she has found them in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and about the work of the ICC is core First Amendment activity,” the lawsuit says.
A role chronicling abuses
Albanese, an Italian citizen, has long fielded criticism from the Israeli government and its allies in the US for her criticisms of the violence committed against Palestinians.
Her international profile has grown since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza on October 8, 2023. More than 75,000 Palestinians have died in that conflict, according to experts and local health officials.
In March 2024, six months into the war, Albanese testified in a report that she had “reasonable grounds to believe” that the standards for genocide had been reached in Gaza, as outlined in the UN Genocide Convention.
Israel rejected the findings. Albanese, meanwhile, said she faced threats after making her statement to the UN.
Her public role and blistering condemnation of Israeli abuses have made her a subject of frequent ire for Israeli and US authorities.
But in Thursday’s lawsuit, Albanese’s family members questioned whether US sanction power should be used to stifle allegations of human rights abuses.
They also highlighted Albanese’s situation as the mother of a US citizen.
“At its heart, this case concerns whether Defendants can sanction a person — ruining their life and the lives of their loved ones, including their citizen daughter — because Defendants disagree with their recommendations or fear their persuasiveness,” the court filing said.
The US Department of State, however, has waved aside the lawsuit as “baseless lawfare”. It maintains that the sanctions against Albanese are “legal and appropriate”.
A wider campaign in the US
Sanctions generally freeze the US-based assets of an individual and prevent anyone else in the US from doing business with them.
Since returning for a second term, Trump has used sanctions as penalties for several critics of Israeli and US actions, even beyond Albanese.
Last June, the Trump administration sanctioned four ICC judges for taking “illegitimate and baseless actions” against the US and Israel. Then, in August, two more ICC judges, plus two prosecutors, were also slapped with sanctions.
As recently as December, another pair of ICC judges were added to the list for their involvement in the investigation of alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
A growing number of scholars, rights groups and international organisations have said that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide.
Israel and the US, however, have largely refuted that assessment. They have also questioned whether the ICC has jurisdiction in their countries.
Though the US and Israel are not party to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding document, both have been accused of rights abuses in countries that are members.
In Albanese’s case, the US government has accused the rapporteur of anti-Semitism and criticised her for pushing for boycotts of US companies implicated in Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
“We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty,” the US State Department said in its sanctions announcement.
But Albanese has indicated that she remains committed to her work regardless of the disruptions to her life.
“My daughter is American. I’ve been living in the US, and I have some assets there. So of course, it’s going to harm me,” Albanese said after the sanctions announcement.
