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11-07-2025
UNITED NATIONS: The Trump administration is imposing sanctions on the UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, an outspoken critic of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio linked the move to her support for the International Criminal Court (ICC), some of whose judges have already been sanctioned by the US.
Rubio said the US was sanctioning Albanese for directly engaging with the ICC in its efforts to prosecute American or Israeli nationals, accusing her of being unfit for service as a UN Special Rapporteur.
The sanctions are likely to prevent Albanese from travelling to the US and would block any assets she has in the country.
In a post on X, Albanese did not directly address the sanctions, but wrote: “[O]n this day more than ever: I stand firmly and convincingly on the side of justice, as I have always done.”
The message, in which the Italy-born special rapporteur reposted a thread of support for ICC, said she came from the court’s founding country, where lawyers and judges had “defended justice at great cost and often with their own life”.
“I intend to honor that tradition,” she added in the post.
Albanese declined to comment to the BBC, but was quoted by Al Jazeera as describing the sanctions as “mafia style intimidation techniques”.
It is the latest escalation by the Trump administration as it wages a campaign against the ICC, having already sanctioned four of its judges.
The US took the action after the court last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza, accusations they reject.
Rubio also accused Albanese of having “spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West”.
The move is likely to provoke a fierce backlash from those who argue for accountability over the civilian death toll from Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
The special rapporteur has long argued that Western governments are not doing enough to support the rights of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Her outspoken stance has attracted significant support among those who accuse Israeli and US leaders of weaponising accusations of antisemitism in order to silence scrutiny of their policies.
Her critics have pointed to language used in the past by Albanese, including a 2014 comment when she suggested the “Jewish lobby” was influencing US government decisions when it came to Israel and the Palestinians.
She is since reported to have said she regretted the remark, but rejected claims it was antisemitic.
The head of Amnesty International and former UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard said she was dismayed by the decision to sanction Albanese.
“Governments around the world and all actors who believe in the rule-based order and international law must do everything in their power to mitigate and block the effect of the sanctions against Francesca Albanese,” she said.
Rubio said Albanese had shown contempt for the US by writing “threatening letters” to several US companies, making what he called unfounded accusations and recommending the ICC pursue prosecutions of the companies and their executives.
“We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty,” Rubio said. (Int’l News Desk)
