French far-left lawmaker arrested for online ‘terrorism apology’

Rima Hassan, a French far-left member of the European Parliament, will face trial in July for an online comment last month about a 1970s attack on an Israeli airport, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Thursday.

Authorities arrested Hassan and ‌detained her for several hours on Thursday under suspicion of supporting terrorism online on March 26, Reuters reported.

“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 related to the May 30, 1972, attack at Lod Airport (later named Ben-Gurion Airport) by the Japanese Red Army terror group. The terrorists killed 26, including one Canadian, 17 Christian pilgrims from Puerto Rico, and eight Israelis. One of the Israelis was Aharon Katzir, a scientist and Israel Prize winner. His brother, Ephraim, became Israel’s president in 1973.

The attack was carried out in the name of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The three Japanese terrorists arrived on an Air France flight from Rome, carrying their weapons in violin cases.

In the post, Hassan quoted Kozo Okamoto, the only surviving terrorist in the attack, who tried to justify his actions by citing the oppression of people in the Palestinian territories.

The offense 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 Antisemitism and the European Jewish Organization had lodged complaints against the ‌post, Reuters reported.

Hassan and her lawyer, Vincent Brengarth, said in posts on X that they would comment in a press conference on Friday afternoon. Born in Syria, Hassan, 33, was elected to the European Parliament in 2024 ⁠for the French far-left party France Unbowed.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the party’s founder, accused the authorities of acting against Hassan for political reasons. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez dismissed Melenchon’s accusation. “Apologizing for terrorism is a very serious offense,” Reuters reported he told French television.

The prosecutor’s office said that Hassan is the subject of six other investigations into possible hate speech. Sixteen other investigations have been dismissed, the news site said.

In April 2024, French police summoned Hassan under suspicion of apologizing for terrorism after she made statements describing the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel as a “legitimate” act of resistance.