French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan, from the left-wing France Insubmissa (LFI) party, was arrested this Thursday (2) in Paris, as part of an investigation conducted by the National Unit to Combat Hatred on the Internet (PNLH), on charges of inciting terrorism.
The leader of the party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said that she was detained for comments made on social media about a 1972 attack on an Israeli airport, which left dozens of people dead. The left-wing representative classified the episode as “judicial persecution”.
According to the newspaper The Parisian and other French media outlets, authorities arrested Hassan after deeming a March 23 post as incitement to terrorism. The message, which was later deleted by the MEP, made reference to the terrorist attack by the far-left Japanese Red Army group on Lod airport (currently Ben-Gurion airport) in Tel Aviv.
In the post, she was accused of justifying one of the individuals convicted of the attack, Kōzō Okamoto, due to Israeli “oppression” in territories inhabited by Palestinians.
“Kōzō Okamoto: I dedicated my youth to the Palestinian cause. As long as there is oppression, resistance will not only be a right, but a duty”, wrote the MEP, before deleting the message.
Three members of the terrorist group, including the one she mentioned, opened fire with automatic weapons at the airport, killing 26 people and injuring dozens more.
According to Le Parisien, which did not detail its sources, synthetic drugs were found in her suitcase when she was detained.
