False information about Rima Hassan: Laurent Nuñez implicated by France 2 programme
The Interior Minister is alleged to have helped spread unfounded claims about drugs found during the custody detention of MEP Rima Hassan from La France Insoumise.
Nuñez accused of fuelling false information about Rima Hassan's custody detention
According to ouest-france.fr, the programme Complément d'enquête, broadcast on Thursday 17 September 2026 on France 2, claims that Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez participated in the spread of inaccurate information concerning narcotics allegedly held by MEP Rima Hassan from La France Insoumise during her custody detention on 2 April.
On 2 April, Rima Hassan had been summoned and placed in custody on suspicion of glorification of terrorism following one of her posts on X. On that occasion, several media outlets reported that police officers had found a small quantity of synthetic drugs in her bag. The investigation opened for possession of narcotics was nevertheless closed without further action by the Paris prosecutor's office following analysis of the two substances found.
What the programme reveals
According to Complément d'enquête, Laurent Nuñez, returning from a trip to Bordeaux with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, was questioned on the train about the presence of drugs in the MEP's bag. Citing one of the journalists present, reported by Franceinfo, the minister allegedly stated: "It could be accurate", referring to "a synthetic thing" for the first product and "a cocaine derivative" for the second, whilst clarifying that "he didn't know much about it". According to another journalist cited by Franceinfo, Nuñez also reported Rima Hassan's account, who, during her custody detention, had allegedly explained that she had purchased these substances in Belgium believing they were legal.
The programme concludes that the minister "in person partly contributed to the spread of this false information".
The minister's entourage responds
Laurent Nuñez's entourage responded on Wednesday 16 September to the Agence France-Presse. "The exchange reported took place in the context of an off-the-record discussion with media outlets, initiated at the journalists' behest regarding information already known and published much earlier", they stated, referring to the custody detention on 2 April and the information that appeared in the press at that time. The entourage added that "questioned in the context of this off-the-record exchange by several journalists, the Interior Minister called for caution regarding the facts mentioned".
Political and legal reactions
Rima Hassan's lawyer, Me Vincent Brengarth, strongly denounced the facts. "Such facts, if confirmed, would be of exceptional seriousness and would constitute a further breach of the confidentiality of the investigation as well as the presumption of innocence", he stated. He is calling for the opening of a judicial investigation to "identify without delay the persons at the origin of these leaks and understand their motivations", as well as for Laurent Nuñez to be questioned by a judge "as soon as possible".
The Franco-Palestinian elected official had herself spoken out the day after her custody detention: "All information referring to the possession of drugs is false and was deliberately relayed with the sole aim of harming me in the context of the proceedings to which I am subject."
The leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, reacted strongly on X: "A manipulative minister manipulates unscrupulous journalists without professional conscience. Hours of slander. All this under the influence of a drug well known in supremacist circles: hatred of Palestinians and support for genocide."
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)