[News] What you need to know about PCHR, Al-Haq and Al-Mezan sanctioned by US

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Factbox – What you need to know about PCHR, Al-Haq and Al-Mezan sanctioned
by US
Presstv
September 6, 2025
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*By Ivan Kesic*

*In yet another glaring example of shielding the Israeli regime from
accountability, the United States has imposed sanctions on three
Palestinian human rights organizations, including Al-Haq, the Palestinian
Center for Human Rights, and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights.*

Enacted on September 4, 2025, under the pretext of Executive Order 14203,
these measures explicitly target the human rights groups for their
legitimate engagement with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to
investigate Israeli war crimes amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

This move, watchdogs argue, represents a direct attack on the core
principles of international law and human rights defense, strategically
designed to criminalize truth-telling and protect Israeli impunity.

They say it forms a sinister pattern of obstruction, following earlier
sanctions against the Palestinian prisoner rights group Addameer, UN
Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, and the ICC itself.

It comes amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza that has claimed nearly 65,000
Palestinian lives, most of them children and women, since October 2023.

*Al-Haq*

Established in 1979 in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank, Al-Haq stands as
one of the oldest and most respected Palestinian human rights
organizations, dedicated to protecting human rights in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory under the strict frameworks of international law.

The organization has consultative status at the UN Economic and Social
Council and is a member of international federations like FIDH for its
meticulous documentation of Israeli crimes, including extrajudicial
killings, torture, and the institutionalized practices of apartheid and
settler colonialism.

Al-Haq’s advocacy work has been instrumental in providing critical evidence
to the ICC, directly supporting the court’s 2024 arrest warrants for
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former military affairs
minister Yoav Gallant for horrendous war crimes.

The organization’s reaction to the US sanctions was one of defiant
condemnation, issuing a statement that labeled the measures an
“internationally wrongful act” aimed at shielding the Israeli “Zionist
settler-colonial apartheid regime.”

Al-Haq’s director, Shawan Jabarin, emphasized that the sanctions, which
freeze assets and criminalize essential transactions, pose a direct threat
to operational capacity and staff safety, but the official vowed unwavering
resilience, stating: “We will not be silenced.”

This reprisal mirrors a previous Israeli designation of Al-Haq as a
“terrorist organization” in 2021, which was widely condemned by major human
rights watchdogs at the time.

*The Palestinian Center for Human Rights*

Founded in 1995 in Gaza City by prominent lawyers and activists, including
Raji Sourani, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) has built a
formidable reputation for its grassroots advocacy and legal action against
human rights violations in the besieged Gaza Strip.

PCHR holds consultative status with the UN and has been a vital source of
documentation throughout the devastating Gaza genocidal war, reporting on
Israeli airstrikes, extrajudicial killings, and the crippling blockade that
violates international humanitarian law.

Its advocacy work has relentlessly focused on providing legal aid to
victims and submitting detailed evidence of war crimes to the ICC, making
it a key partner in the international pursuit of justice.

PCHR reacted to the sanctions by directly naming US complicity, stating on
its X account, “Yesterday, the US government, Israel’s partner in the
ongoing genocide, shamefully sanctioned Palestinian human rights
organisations.”

The organization highlighted the chilling effect these sanctions will have,
threatening its ability to operate amid a dire humanitarian crisis where
its work documenting atrocities and offering legal services is most
critically needed.

PCHR framed the US action as a deliberate attempt to criminalize their
truth-telling mission and protect Israeli impunity, vowing to continue its
advocacy despite the immense risks and calling for global solidarity to
counter this blatant intimidation.

*The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights*

The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, established in 1999 in Gaza, has
dedicated its mission to monitoring and documenting human rights violations
with a specific focus on the devastating impact of Israeli gencoidal war
and siege on the civilian population.

As a member of international networks like FIDH and the OMCT, Al-Mezan has
built a reputation for credible reporting on the ground, detailing the
destruction of infrastructure, civilian deaths, and the famine-like
conditions exacerbated by the ongoing conflict.

Its advocacy work has been pivotal in supporting the ICC’s investigation,
providing crucial evidence that contributed to the case against Israeli
leaders for atrocity crimes.

Al-Mezan connected the sanctions to the ongoing genocide, stating, “As the
genocide in Gaza continues, the US has sanctioned us, @alhaq_org, and
@pchrgaza, citing our support & involvement with the ICC’s efforts.”

The organization warned that the US measures constitute a direct attack on
their ability to document atrocities and provide essential legal and
psychological support to victims, thereby further endangering staff safety
and isolating them from international partners.

Al-Mezan urgently called on the European Union and other international
actors to invoke blocking statutes to neutralize the sanctions’ impact,
framing the US move as an extension of its complicity in the Israeli
campaign to eradicate Palestinian resistance and silence any witness to its
crimes.

*International outrage*

The sanctions against these three organizations have been met with
universal condemnation from the international human rights community, with
leading global NGOs labeling the measures a “blatant attack on human
rights” and a “cruel and vindictive effort to punish those advocating for
victims.”

UN High Commissioner Volker Türk deemed the measures “completely
unacceptable,” arguing they serve only to deepen impunity and silence
victims.

This concerted effort to dismantle Palestinian civil society exposes a US
foreign policy that has wholly abandoned any pretense of supporting a
rules-based international order, choosing instead to act as the legal
shield for a Zionist project of dispossession and genocide.

By weaponizing its financial power to sanction human rights defenders, the
United States is not merely observing but actively participating in the
suppression of the Palestinian people, revealing a profound moral
bankruptcy that history will judge with severity.
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