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”
Editor : Ena Agbanoma
