LONDON: French MEP Rima Hassan was released from custody on Thursday night after being held for several hours on suspicion of “apology for terrorism” over a social media post about a 1970s attack on an Israeli airport. She will stand trial on July 7.
Hassan, 33, a member of the left-wing La France Insoumise party and a vocal pro-Palestinian activist of Palestinian descent, was arrested after posting — and later deleting — a comment on X in late March quoting Kozo Okamoto, one of the perpetrators of the 1972 Japanese Red Army attack on Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, which killed 26 people.
The post read: “Kozo Okamoto: I gave my youth to the Palestinian cause. As long as there is oppression, resistance will not only be a right, but a duty.”
The Paris prosecutor’s office said that the post could be construed as showing support for terrorism, and that Hassan had been summoned “to appear before the criminal court on July 7, 2026, to be tried on charges of advocating terrorism committed online.”
The offense carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a fine of up to €100,000 ($115,290).
