Rome, Feb. 3 (LaPresse) – "Sanctions? There are certainly discussions on the part of the United Nations. As for the Italian government, I don’t know. They were asking me whether the Italian state has done anything for the resolution of the sanctions. If it has, I am not aware of it, because I have never had any meeting with this government. I requested one and it was denied to me. And this is quite a unique fact, because in other countries, even those that do not share my analyses and those of the other special rapporteurs of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, such as Germany, I am received with all the respect and dignity that are recognized for a mandate like this." This was stated by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese, on the sidelines of a press conference at the Chamber of Deputies. "I do not believe the sanctions will be lifted so easily, because there does not seem to be a favorable climate in the United States at this time, but I am confident that things will change," the Special Rapporteur added, before adding that she "knows for certain" that among the reasons for the sanctions imposed on her "there is a load of personal hatred coming from some members of the United States government." "If there had been a trial I would have had the opportunity to defend myself," Albanese further denounces, "if there had been anything of substance, irregular or inaccurate in that report, considering how much it has been put under the microscope, they would have found it. Instead, no." "Since they cannot attack the substance of my investigations, I am penalized in this way, which is truly indecent for a democratic system and for states governed by the rule of law," she then concluded.
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