US reinstates sanctions on UN's Albanese after appeals court pauses ruling

US reinstates sanctions on UN's Albanese after appeals court pauses ruling The United States has reinstated sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations' special rapporteur on Palestine, after a federal appeals court temporarily paused a lower-court ruling that had blocked the measures on free-speech grounds. The decision was confirmed in a notice posted to the US Treasury's website on Wednesday. The Donald Trump administration sanctioned Albanese in July last year, shortly after her scathing report in which she named over 60 companies, including major US technology firms like Google, Amazon and Microsoft, which she said were involved in "the transformation of Israel's economy of occupation to an economy of genocide". The report called for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and national judicial systems to pursue investigations and prosecutions of corporate executives and companies. The sanction decision cited her recommendations that the ICC prosecute Israeli officials and executives of US companies. The designation has effectively barred her from travelling to the US and frozen her assets there. Albanese told Middle East Eye that the sanctions have also cut her off from the global financial system, including by blocking her ability to carry out regular daily transactions. Read more:  US reinstates sanctions on UN's Albanese after appeals court pauses ruling UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese in Belgrade on 17 March 2026 (Andrej Isakovic/AFP)

Original source: Middle East Eye