Palestine Defenders Decry 'Intolerable' Arrest of French Politician Rima Hassan

Hassan and others aboard the Madleen were intercepted by Israeli forces and arrested in international waters as they attempted to deliver food, children’s prosthetics, and other desperately needed supplies to Gaza’s besieged and starving people. Hassan said that she was beaten in Israeli custody.While far-right and pro-Israel French lawmakers celebrated Hassan's detention and called for her to be stripped of parliamentary immunity, Palestine defenders condemned the arrest.Once again, the offense of glorifying terrorism is being used to repress a Palestinian activist known worldwide for her fight against genocide, said leftist lawyer Elsa Marcel. While Israel bombs Iran and Lebanon and colonization accelerates in the West Bank, the French state continues to repress the voices fighting for the liberation of Palestine. Immediate release!LFI French National Assembly Member Gabrielle Cathala voiced her full support for Rima Hassan in a post on X.In violation of her parliamentary immunity, she is currently being held in custody for a simple tweet that had nothing to do with 'apology for terrorism,' she wrote. This judicial harassment must stop.If this is already happening, just imagine what would occur in the event of a vote on the Yadan Law, Cathala added, referring to a highly controversial bill critics say would criminalize anti-Zionism by conflating opposition to Israel with animus toward Jewish people, aligning with the dubious International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism.Soutien à ma camarade et collègue Rima Hassan, en garde à vue pour un tweet, alors que le génocide à Gaza se poursuit et que les palestiniennes subissent désormais un apartheid par le gouvernement d’extrême droite israélien.[image or embed]— François Piquemal (@francoispiquemal.bsky.social) April 2, 2026 at 6:51 AMJean-Luc Mélenchon, the de facto LFI leader and a European Parliament member, said on Bluesky: The political police have once again summoned Rima Hassan for questioning regarding a retweet from March. Parliamentary immunity, then, no longer exists in France.It is intolerable, he added. The Yadan Law was not passed—yet is it already being enforced?Hassan was previously summoned by authorities following a December 2024 complaint over social media posts, including one in which she asserted, “If Franco-Israelis are allowed to serve in the Israeli army while enjoying the gains of dual citizenship, every Franco-Palestinian must be able to join the Palestinian armed resistance, the legitimacy of which is recognized by [United Nations] resolutions on the right to self-determination of peoples.Since she started speaking out against the Gaza genocide, Hasan has been subjected to online bullying, including death and rape threats and doxing.Last week, Hassan was denied entry into Canada—where she was scheduled to speak at multiple conferences in Montréal and meet with left-wing pro-Palestine members of Québec's National Assembly—following concerns from the pro-Israel groups B’nai Brith Canada and the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs. Hassan attended the conferences remotely. “The revocation of [Hassan's] travel authorization is part of a worrying trend of restricting freedom of expression and movement of political representatives, LFI said in a statement, as well as part of a broader pattern of censorship affecting democratic debate.Other Palestine defenders have been targeted by the French government, including Olivia Zemor, president of the advocacy group Europalestine, who last week was hit with a 24-month suspended sentence for apology for terrorism due to her support for Palestinian rights.