PARIS, April 3 (Reuters) - Rima Hassan, a French far-left member of the European Parliament, will face trial in July over a comment she posted on X last month about a 1970s attack on an Israeli airport, the Paris prosecutor’s office said late on Thursday.
Authorities arrested Hassan and detained her in custody for several hours on Thursday because they suspected the post made on March 26 and later erased could be construed as showing support for terrorism.
“At the end of her custody, Rima Hassan was given a summons to appear before the criminal court on July 7, 2026, to be tried on charges of advocating terrorism committed online,” the office said in an emailed statement.
Hassan’s message was related to the 1972 attack by the Japanese Red Army far-left militant group at Lod airport in Tel Aviv, resulting in 26 deaths.
In the post, Hassan had quoted on her X account a comment made by an individual who was convicted for the attack and sought to justify it by citing what he said was the oppression of people in the Palestinian territories.
The offence of online “terrorism apology” is punishable by up to a seven-year jail term and a fine of up to 100,000 euros ($115,290).
The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism and the European Jewish Organization had lodged complaints against the post.
After her release, Hassan and her lawyer, Vincent Brengarth, said in separate posts on X that they would only comment on the process in a press conference on Friday afternoon.
Born in Syria, Hassan, 33, is of Palestinian descent and is a vocal pro-Palestinian activist and a fierce critic of Israel. She was elected to the European Parliament in 2024 for the French far-left party France Unbowed.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the party’s founder, said the proceedings against Hassan were politically motivated.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez dismissed the accusation. “There are rules to be respected. Apologising for terrorism is a very serious offense,” he said on TV station BFMTV.
The prosecutor’s office has said that Hassan is the subject of six other investigations into possible hate speech while 16 others have been shelved.
The statement also said police found cannabidiol, or CBD, and a substance that seemed to be a designer drug 3-MMC in her possession. These will be treated separately.
Hassan has denied illegal drug possession, saying in her post that she takes CBD for medical reasons.
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(Reporting by Inti LandauroEditing by David Goodman and Tomasz Janowski)
