French pro-Palestine MEP Rima Hassan arrested over X post

Rima Hassan, a French pro-Palestinian member of the European Parliament, was arrested on Thursday over a comment she posted on X last month about an attack on an Israeli airport in the 1970s, her fellow party member Jean-Luc Melenchon said.

Hassan and her lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"The politics police has once again put Rima Hassan in custody in relation to a re-tweet from March. So there is no parliamentary immunity in France. Unbearable," wrote France Unbowed (LFI) leader Melenchon on X.

Le Parisien and other French media reported authorities had arrested Hassan and detained her in custody because they suspected the post made on March 26 could be construed as showing support for terrorism.

The message was related to the 1972 attack by the Japanese Red Army group at Lod airport in Tel Aviv, which resulted in 26 deaths.

In her subsequently deleted post, Hassan had quoted on her X account a comment made by an individual convicted of the attack seeking to justify it due to what he said was the "oppression" of people in the Palestinian territories.

The French-Palestinian politician and activist has frequently been subjected to cyberbullying, death threats and threats of sexual violence from pro-Israel supporters in France due to her pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Hassan made headlines last year as part of a group of activists attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the devastated Gaza Strip aboard the Madleen, a vessel operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

Hassan, along with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and other campaigners on board, was detained by Israeli naval forces after the vessel was intercepted in international waters.

She was held for several days before being deported to Paris by Israeli authorities.