French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan to be tried over social media post

PARIS: A French-Palestinian member of European Parliament is to be tried in France in July over allegedly “promoting terrorism” in a social media post, prosecutors have said.
Rima Hassan, a 33-year-old politician from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, is an outspoken advocate for the rights of Palestinians.
She was arrested last year in Israel for taking part in an activist aid flotilla to Gaza.
Since the start of the Gaza war, tensions have been high in France, a country that is home to western Europe’s largest Jewish population as well as a significant Muslim community.
Hassan, who often draws criticism for her social media comments, was briefly detained on Thursday over allegations she “promoted terrorism” in a social media post.
She is to be tried on July 7 over the comments on X last month, in which she referred to a Japanese activist who took part in a 1972 attack in Tel Aviv that killed 26 people, the prosecutor’s office said on Thursday.
Several Jewish organizations had filed a legal complaint, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said.
Prosecutors said CBD — a drug made from the hemp plant — and a synthetic drug called 3MMC were found in her possession while in custody.
Hassan defended herself, saying CBD was legal in France.
“Of the two CBD products I had, one was tested and found to comply with what is sold legally, and the second, according to the investigators, contained traces of synthetic drugs that had apparently been added to the CBD resin,” she said on X on Friday.
LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard on Friday said the EU lawmaker was “the target of judicial persecution.”
Hassan was then hauled back in for questioning for a second day in a row.
She said on X that Friday’s case was linked to separate complaints from Jewish organizations and a far-right women’s collective called Nemesis.
The far-right group in February protested against Hassan when she spoke at a university in Lyon, leading to the fatal beating of a young man.
The death of Quentin Deranque, a far-right activist, has been blamed on “anti-fascists” from the hard left.