French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan to be tried for 'apology for terrorism'
French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan, who was held in police custody for several hours in France on Thursday, will be tried in July for "apology for terrorism" due to a post on social media, the Paris prosecutor's office announced.
The 33-year-old MEP for France Unbowed (La France Insoumise, LFI) was summoned after sharing an article about Kozo Okamoto, a former member of the Japanese Red Army who participated in an attack on Lod Airport in Israel in 1972 in the name of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), killing 26 passengers.
Accompanied by Japanese and Palestinian flags, Hassan's post included a quote attributed to him: "Kozo Okamoto: I gave my youth to the Palestinian cause. As long as there is oppression, resistance will not only be a right, but a duty."
The post had been reported to the prosecutor's office by far-right National Rally MP Matthias Renault, the French interior minister, the European Jewish Organisation (OJE), and the League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA).
Hassan was released from police custody on Thursday evening and will be summoned to appear in court on 7 July to stand trial for "online apology for terrorism", the prosecutor's office said.
After her release, Hassan published a post on X where she addressed reports of a small quantity of synthetic drugs being found in her bag.
"Throughout the day, based on illegal leaks, I have had to endure accusations of possessing several drugs. These accusations are completely false: only CBD was found among my personal belongings, which is perfectly legal and which I use for medical purposes," she wrote.
During a search of her belongings on Thursday, "materials resembling CBD and 3MMC [a synthetic drug] were discovered, and she was questioned about them", the prosecutor's office stated after her detention, adding that "these items [were] separate and [would] be the subject of a separate procedure".
In a subsequent post on Friday, Hassan reiterated that she had CBD on her person when she went to police custody for medical purposes.
"Of the two CBD products I had, one was tested and found to be compliant with what is legally sold and the second, according to investigators, contained traces of a synthetic drug that had allegedly been added to the CBD resin. I have stated where I legally purchased this CBD. Checks are simply underway to verify the origin of this CBD to corroborate my statements," she wrote.
"All information referring to drug possession is false and has been knowingly relayed with the sole purpose of harming me in the context of the proceedings against me, and I reserve the right to take legal action in this regard," she added.
Questioned again on Friday
On Friday, the MEP was questioned again by the judicial police in Paris, as part of a separate investigation.
In a subsequent post, Hassan said that she had two hearings on Friday morning, one concerning an article "referring to Hamas's activities against militias affiliated with the Islamic State, supported and financed by Israel in Gaza" and "the other concerning a complaint filed by the far-right group Némésis regarding a post co-authored by a student group that included a tag targeting Némésis, a post which was removed by the same student group the same day at my request".
Her detention on Thursday has sparked outrage within the ranks of LFI.
Its leader and former presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, accused "the political police" of placing her in custody over a retweet and not respecting her parliamentary immunity.
In its statement, the Paris prosecutor's office said that it was not "necessary" to lift her immunity to place her in custody "within the framework of the preliminary investigation".
Manon Aubry, another MEP from LFI, for her part denounced "judicial harassment" against Hassan, who is said to be implicated in six other ongoing cases.
Thirteen other cases handled by the national unit for combating online hate speech were dismissed. Most concerned posts on X or other comments, reported by the OJE, other organisations, or members of parliament.
In April 2024, she was summoned for "apology for terrorism" in relation to an LFI statement that drew a parallel between the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, described as "an armed offensive by Palestinian forces", and "the intensification of the Israeli occupation policy" in Palestine.
The use by French judicial authorities of the “apology for terrorism” offence has been on the rise since October 2023, with hundreds of investigations launched into comments made about Israel's war on Gaza.
A leading advocate for the Palestinian cause, Hassan twice boarded boats bound for Gaza to protest Israel's humanitarian blockade on the war-torn enclave. She was temporarily detained by Israeli forces after the ship was intercepted.
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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