The United States said on Wednesday it was imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, who has been very critical of U.

Human rights defenders rallied on Thursday to support the top U.N. expert on Palestinian rights, after the United States imposed sanctions on her over what it said was unfair criticism of Israel. Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese serves as special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories,

The US is imposing sanctions against a senior UN official focused on the human rights of Palestinians, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday.