Trial of Rima Hassan for apology for terrorism postponed to 19 October
Paris correctional court has postponed to 19 October the trial of MEP Rima Hassan, who is being prosecuted over a post on X mentioning an author of the 1972 Tel-Aviv attack.
Postponement of Rima Hassan's trial: hearing set for 19 and 20 October
The trial of La France insoumise MEP Rima Hassan, which was expected on Tuesday 7 July before Paris correctional court, has been postponed at the request of the defence, according to bfmtv.com. The hearing will now take place on 19 and 20 October, much to the displeasure of the public prosecutor and the civil parties.
The Franco-Palestinian elected representative, who entered the European Parliament in 2024, is being prosecuted for apology for terrorism. The judiciary is charging her with a post published at the end of March on her X account in which she mentioned Kōzō Okamoto, a Japanese national and one of the authors of the attack carried out at Tel-Aviv airport in 1972, which cost 26 lives. This tweet has since been deleted.
The referral had been made to the public prosecutor's office by the Interior Minister, then by the European Jewish Organisation (OJE) and Licra.
Request for postponement against the prosecutor's opinion
At the opening of the hearing, Rima Hassan's lawyer, Me Vincent Brengarth, requested that the case be postponed, denouncing "an onslaught of civil party registrations (…) which produce arguments, which produce new evidence for the purpose of obtaining the conviction of Rima Hassan". The public prosecutor and the lawyers for around ten civil parties opposed this request. Rima Hassan left the courthouse without making a statement.
Several hundred protesters outside the courthouse
At midday, hundreds of people had gathered on the steps of the courthouse to support the MEP. Among them were several LFI deputies, the movement's leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the mayor of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko.
In front of the crowd brandishing Palestinian flags and placards bearing her image, Rima Hassan denounced the "repression" that defenders of the Palestinian cause are subject to according to her, and called to "stand united", "for democracy, for the rule of law and for freedom of expression".
Among the supporters present, a 63-year-old architect named Brigitte stated she had come to "support a courageous and hardworking woman" and protest against "these anathemas that are trying to shoot down the left".
More than 200 public figures had moreover signed on Sunday a column published in L'Humanité in support of the MEP, including Nobel Prize-winner in Literature Annie Ernaux and former minister Christiane Taubira.
Context: custody and drug-related case
The detention of Rima Hassan on 2 April had provoked a sharp political and media controversy. Me Brengarth had described this measure as "completely illegal", arguing that it was intended to "circumvent" his client's parliamentary immunity via "a perversion of the procedure in flagrante delicto". Information published in the press referred to the discovery of synthetic drugs in her bag, but the investigation into possible possession of illegal drugs later denied these allegations. The elected representative filed a complaint for breach of investigation confidentiality.
Rima Hassan is moreover summoned on 16 September in connection with two other proceedings, for "public apology for crime or misdemeanour" and "public and direct incitement not followed by effect to commit a crime or misdemeanour".
Source: Le Monde - Justice