Rima Hassan's Arrest Sparks Debate Over Parliamentary Immunity

Rima Hassan, a French far-left member of the European Parliament, was arrested on Thursday. Her arrest followed a comment she made on social media platform X last month regarding a historical attack on an Israeli airport in the 1970s. The information was confirmed by her fellow party member, Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Jean-Luc Melenchon took to X to express his disapproval of the arrest, stating, "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." Attempts to reach Hassan and her legal representatives have so far been unsuccessful.

According to Le Parisien and other French media outlets, Hassan's detention is linked to suspicions that her re-tweet from March 26 shows support for terrorism. The post related to the 1972 attack by the Japanese Red Army militant group at Lod airport in Tel Aviv, which claimed 26 lives. Hassan had quoted a convicted individual involved in the attack, who justified it as a response to the "oppression" of Palestinians.