For a brief period this month, the human rights lawyer Francesca Albanese seemed to have some relief.

In an extraordinary move in July last year, the Trump administration placed sanctions on the UN’s special rapporteur for Palestine – placing her alongside figures such as Vladimir Putin and Bashir al-Assad – over her engagement with the international criminal court.

As she tells Nosheen Iqbal, it “equates to a civil death”. She is unable to access her bank accounts and savings or continue her work as a lecturer.

On 13 May, however, her family won a case in a US court, arguing that she was being punished for speaking out against Israeli crimes in Gaza. But the reprieve was short-lived. The US government successfully appealed against the decision last week and the sanctions are back in place.

Francesca talks to Nosheen about the impact of sanctions on her life, the situation in Gaza and the accusations of antisemitism she has faced over the last two years.

Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters