US government imposed sanctions on Albanese for criticising Israel.
Italian cultural figures have rallied around UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese after she was sanctioned by the Trump administration over her criticism of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
More than 80 actors, writers, musicians and intellectuals have signed an open letter in support of Albanese, a UN-appointed independent human rights expert on the occupied Palestinian territories.
The letter, an initiative of the Tlon cultural and philosophical project, is addressed to Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella, premier Giorgia Meloni and foreign minister Antonio Tajani, urging them to “defend an Italian citizen sanctioned for carrying out her UN mandate”.
The document calls on the Italian parliament to express a united motion for Albanese’s diplomatic protection, saying: “The silence of our institutions in the face of this unprecedented attack would be unacceptable.”
Among the letter’s signatories are actors Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudia Gerini, Luca Zingaretti, Valerio Mastandrea, Claudia Pandolfi and Alba Rohrwacher.
Other cultural figures who signed the letter include rapper Marracash, singers Cosmo, Levante and Francesca Michielin, art historian Tomaso Montanari, writer Lia Ravera and cartoonist Zerocalcare.
The letter says the sanctions against Albanese – announced on 9 July by US secretary of state Marco Rubio – represent “an explicit attempt to divert global attention from the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.”
“Albanese’s work has shed light not only on the human dimension of this tragedy, but also on the economic mechanisms that perpetuate it”, the letter says, a reference to the UN expert’s recent report that called on dozens of multinational companies to stop doing business with Israel, warning them they risked being complicit in war crimes in Gaza by profiting “from the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid, and now genocide” in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Rubio accused Albanese of a “campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel,” claiming that she has “spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West”.
In response, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the imposition of sanctions on special rapporteurs is “unacceptable” and sets a “dangerous precedent.”
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for the “prompt reversal” of the sanctions against Albanese, stating: “Even in face of fierce disagreement, UN Member States should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures”.
Following the announcement of the sanctions, Albanese posted on X: ‘”The powerful punishing those who speak for the powerless, it is not a sign of strength, but of guilt”. Let’s stand tall, together.”
Photo: Rome street artist Harry Greb created a mural this week titled ‘Hands off Francesca Albanese’, showing the Italian human rights lawyer with the Nobel peace prize. The mural appeared on Via della Lungaretta in the Trastevere quarter.
