EU Lawmaker Rima Hassan Faces Trial for Inciting Violence

European Parliament member Rima Hassan is scheduled to appear before the Paris Judicial Court on Wednesday, September 16, to face charges of public incitement to crime or offense. The prosecution stems from two social media posts made in 2025. Hassan, an MEP for La France Insoumise, is accused of "public incitement to crime or offense" and "direct public provocation, not followed by effect, to commit a crime or offense." Both offenses carry a potential penalty of five years imprisonment and a €45,000 fine.

The first charge relates to a March 8, 2025, post on Instagram. Following a feminist demonstration in Paris, Hassan shared a photo carousel from a pro-Palestinian student group at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University. One image featured graffiti calling to "dissolve Nemesis with acid," targeting the identitarian feminist collective. The group's president, Alice Cordier, reported this as a call to violence. Hassan told investigators she shared the post without seeing the specific graffiti and requested its removal from the student group once alerted, according to Le Monde.

The second charge concerns an October 20, 2025, post where Hassan shared an article from the American outlet Mondoweiss detailing Hamas executions of Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel. Her accompanying caption was "one by one." The court will determine if this phrase constituted approval of the executions or merely repeated the article's content.

Hassan's parliamentary immunity does not prevent these proceedings, as the posts were not made in the direct exercise of her duties as a Member of the European Parliament. She is presumed innocent until proven guilty. This trial is separate from another case against Hassan for glorifying terrorism, which has been postponed to October and involves a post referencing Kozo Okamoto, a member of the Japanese Red Army linked to the 1972 Lod Airport attack.