The Insoumises Mathilde Panot and Rima Hassan were questioned by the police this Tuesday, April 30 as part of investigations for “apology of terrorism” after comments linked to the war in the Middle East.
Mathilde Panot, president of the La France Insoumise (LFI) group in the National Assembly, and Rima Hassan, Franco-Palestinian activist and “Insoumise” candidate in the European elections in seventh position on the list led by Manon Aubry, are heard this Tuesday 30 April by the judicial police as part of investigations for “apology of terrorism” after comments linked to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. “We are on the right side of history.” The French government “will not silence us”. These were the words of Rima Hassan, this Tuesday, near the Paris court in the 17th arrondissement of the capital.
A text strongly criticized
The leader of the Insoumis Mathilde Panot must explain herself on a communicated published by his parliamentary group on October 7, 2023, the day of Hamas’s attack on Israel. A text which had been castigated by the opposition, because it paralleled the attack of the Islamist movement, described as “an armed offensive by Palestinian forces” and “the intensification of the Israeli occupation policy” in the Palestinian territories . This text also tore the left apart, sealing the fate of the New Ecological and Social Popular Union (NUPES) in the National Assembly.
Did Rima Hassan legitimize Hamas’ action?
Rima Hassan will have to answer for her comments made between November 5 and December 1, 2023. In an interview with the media Le Crayon, the 32-year-old lawyer indicated that it was “true” that Hamas was taking action legitimate. Since then, the latter has denounced a misleading editing of her response. This is why the media announced that it had given her “the entirety of this interview”, “so that she can rely on it in the exclusive context of the legal actions that she will have to take”.
This Tuesday morning, a rally was organized by La France Insoumise in front of the Paris judicial police headquarters where Mathilde Panot and Rima Hassan are to be heard. “In which democracy are anti-terrorism methods used against political activists, community activists or trade unionists,” declared the first person concerned.
Explosion of reports for “apology of terrorism”
Since October 7, the number of reports and complaints for “apology of terrorism” has soared. The Paris public prosecutor’s office has received 386 referrals in connection with the Israel-Hamas conflict, while in 2022, the “online hate” department had been seized 500 times, all cases combined. In reality, as a judicial source explains to AFP, an investigation is almost systematically opened and the people targeted are interviewed by the police when it comes to the “very sensitive” subject of the war in the Middle East. On the other hand, she insists on the fact that a summons does not presume guilt.