US restores sanctions on UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese after appeals court ruling

US appeals court enables Trump administration to reimpose sanctions on UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese.

By World Israel News Staff

A US appeals court has allowed the Trump administration to resume sanctions against United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese while it considers the government’s challenge to a lower court ruling that had temporarily blocked the measures.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued the order Friday, staying a preliminary injunction that had prevented Washington from enforcing the sanctions announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on July 9, 2025.

The decision permits the US government to “implement and enforce” Albanese’s designation as a sanctioned foreign national while the appeal moves forward.

The sanctions were imposed over allegations that Albanese helped support International Criminal Court efforts targeting US and Israeli nationals.

The Justice Department argued in an emergency motion that the lower court’s injunction intruded on the executive branch’s national security and foreign policy authority. It also argued that Albanese, as a foreign national living outside the United States, is not entitled to First Amendment protections under the US Constitution.

UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights organization that has repeatedly criticized Albanese, welcomed the appeals court’s order. The group had filed an amicus brief opposing the preliminary injunction sought by Albanese’s family.

“Today’s ruling is an important victory for accountability and for the principle that no UN official is above the law,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

“The appeals court recognized that the sanctions should remain in force while the case is reviewed, after a lower court wrongly suspended measures aimed at protecting America and its allies from politically weaponized international prosecutions,” he said.

UN Watch said its filing argued that Albanese’s activity went beyond speech and amounted to support for ICC prosecutorial efforts against Israeli and American officials.

“Francesca Albanese did not merely express opinions. She used her UN mandate to campaign for ICC prosecutions against democratic leaders and American companies,” Neuer said. “That is precisely the conduct at issue in this case.”

Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, has faced criticism from the United States, Israel and several Western governments over comments accused of antisemitism, Holocaust inversion and hostility toward Israel. France, Germany, Canada and other countries have previously condemned remarks attributed to her.

UN Watch’s brief said Albanese had repeatedly urged international courts to pursue Israeli officials and American companies, endorsed arrest warrants against Israeli leaders and promoted cases accusing Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide.”

The group said its submission also cited statements in which Albanese questioned Hamas atrocities, compared Israel to Nazi Germany and amplified claims describing Israel as “the incarnation of evil.”

The appeals court order does not resolve the underlying case. The D.C. Circuit said the stay was issued to give the court time to consider the government’s request for a longer stay while the appeal proceeds. Briefing is expected to continue through early June.

“This is not the end of the case, and the court will soon hear further arguments,” Neuer said. “But today’s decision sends a serious signal that the administration’s sanctions authority — especially in matters touching national security and foreign affairs — cannot simply be brushed aside.”