Family of Francesca Albanese Sues Trump Administration over Sanctions

By Staff, Agencies

The family of United Nations special rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, is suing the Trump administration over sanctions it imposed on her for criticism of “Israel” and companies involved in “Israel’s” genocide in Gaza.

The civil complaint was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing that the Trump administration breached Albanese’s First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights, unreasonably seized her property without due process, and violated sanctions laws.

The complaint asked the court to call the sanctions unconstitutional.

The case was filed by Albanese’s husband, Massimiliano Cali, a senior economist for the World Bank in Tunisia, on behalf of himself, Albanese and their daughter, who was not identified by name. Albanese and her husband are Italian citizens, but their daughter is a US citizen.

“Francesca’s expression of her views about the facts as she has found them in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and about the work of the ICC is core First Amendment activity,” the lawsuit says.

“At its heart, this case concerns whether Defendants can sanction a person - ruining their life and the lives of their loved ones, including their citizen daughter - because Defendants disagree with their recommendations or fear their persuasiveness,” the filing added.

Albanese was sanctioned in July by the US in connection with her work investigating genocide in Gaza, where over 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war on the enclave. The sanctions effectively barred her from travelling to the US and froze her assets there.

On Thursday, Albanese told The New York Times that she had experienced “enormous hardship”, especially because of her links to the US and concerns that her family could be penalized for maintaining ties with her. “There is a criminalization of my motherhood and the family bonds I have.”

US sanctions carry heft because the US financial system underwrites the world economy. The US can also impose secondary sanctions on people or entities that engage in financial transactions with a sanctioned person.