Judge overturns US sanctions on UN official who called for war crimes prosecutions over Gaza

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s sanctions against a United Nations official who has faced accusations of antisemitism over her calls for war crimes charges against Israeli officials over their actions in Gaza.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed the sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian human rights, last July under an executive order President Donald Trump signed authorizing such actions against people “directly engaged” in the International Criminal Court’s investigations related to alleged atrocities in Gaza.

 However, in a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the administration’s sanctions against Albanese violate the First Amendment because they’re based solely on her encouraging the ICC to investigate and prosecute.

“Albanese has done nothing more than speak!” Leon wrote in a 26-page decision salted with his trademark exclamation points. “It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions — they are nothing more than her opinion.”

Justice Department lawyers argued that Albanese, an Italian citizen currently living with her family in Tunisia, has no First Amendment claim because she isn’t an American and she issued her statements from abroad. However, Leon said her “extensive connections” to the U.S., including a daughter born while the family lived in Washington and a home the family owns in Washington, gave Albanese a claim to free-speech protections. [Politico]