Rima Hassan

Rima Hassan Mobarak (; born 28 April 1992) is a French jurist and politician of Palestinian and Kurdish origin, born in the Neirab refugee camp, near Aleppo, Syria. Stateless, she arrived in France around the age of nine and settled with her family in Niort. After obtaining French nationality upon reaching adulthood, she earned a master's degree in international law from Panthéon-Sorbonne University.

In 2019, Hassan founded the Refugee Camps Observatory, an NGO dedicated to the study and protection of refugee camps worldwide. In 2023, she founded the Action Palestine France collective. That same year, she joined La France Insoumise to contest the 2024 European Parliament election on Manon Aubry's list. She was elected to the European Parliament on 9 June 2024.

Early life and education Rima Hassan Mobarak was born on 28 April 1992 in the Neirab camp, near Aleppo, Syria, the youngest of six children. Her mother, Nabiha (1958–2021), was a teacher, while her father, Ahmad, is a former mechanic in the Syrian Air Force. Her maternal grandmother came from a prominent Syrian Kurdish family, the Hananu, and married a Palestinian refugee from Salfit; although she came from a prestigious family, she chose to live with him in the refugee camp. sister and four brothers. She was elected to the Niort children's municipal council in 2003. She studied there at Ernest Pérochon Primary School. During this time, her mother worked in restaurants to support the family. for six years until 2023. The following year, Hassan participated in a roundtable organized by Emmaus for the World Refugee Day, on 20 June. In 2022, the Interministerial Delegation for Reception and Integration dedicated a portrait to her as an "Inspirational Woman". That same year, she revisited the notion of "fraternity" from the French national motto in a podcast, along with other participants.

On 3 February 2023, she spoke at the French Senate for the symposium "Israel-Palestine: State of Affairs" organized by Paris Senator Esther Benbassa, in collaboration with L'Histoire and the French Research Center in Jerusalem. Her intervention addressed the issue of apartheid in Israeli society. Following the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, amid the bombing of the Gaza Strip and the ground offensive launched by Israel, she terminated her contract with the National Court of Asylum Law and declined an advocacy position on migration issues offered by Amnesty International. Instead, she moved back to the Neirab refugee camp, "to be close to her people" and established the Action Palestine France collective on Telegram.

In August 2023, Hassan participated in the summer days organized by The Ecologists, alongside the rapper Médine or the politician Clémentine Autain. Also in August 2023, Forbes ranked Hassan among the "40 exceptional women who have marked the year and who have made France shine internationally". and by the television presenter Arthur who accused her of "lauding terrorism". Following this controversy, Forbes canceled the awards ceremony. after also being approached to be on the list of The Greens but in a non-eligible position. She was elected. She explains her political commitment to LFI's list by the "urgent need to act politically now" regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip.

In July 2024, The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL proposed Hassan as vice-president of the Human Rights Subcommittee. The day after this proposal, fellow MEP François-Xavier Bellamy (The Republicans) used his connections to block her election to this position by accusing her of antisemitism. In response, she published several messages on X about Bellamy.

In 2024, Hassan described the October 7 attacks as "legitimate," leading French authorities to summon her for questioning on suspicion of advocating terrorism; her scheduled participation in the Forbes France Women’s Summit was subsequently canceled amid widespread public backlash. In August of that year, she reportedly appeared at a pro-Hamas rally in Amman, prompting approximately 50 members of the French National Assembly to petition the president of the European Parliament to revoke her parliamentary immunity. In December, she stated that "If Franco-Israelis are allowed to serve in the Israeli army while enjoying the benefits of dual nationality. Any Franco-Palestinian must be able to join the Palestinian armed resistance whose legitimacy is recognized by the United Nations resolutions relating to the right to self-determination of peoples. The only thing that prevents you from considering it is the coloniality of the world". In response to a question about whether Hamas was responsible for the kidnapping and killing of the Bibas family, Hassan tweeted "Kfir, Ariel and Shiri Bibas were killed by an Israeli strike. This had also been communicated and confirmed in November 2023", she further responded "would there have been Hamas and, in particular, the attacks of the 7th, if there had not been an illegal occupation and an illegal blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip for decades?"

Gaza Freedom Flotilla

On 1 June 2025, Hassan embarked on the British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which sailed from Catania, Italy, in an attempt to breach Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip with a cargo of rice, baby formula and medical equipment. On board were another eleven activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and Brazilian Thiago Ávila. Passengers described the voyage as non-violent direct political resistance seeking to draw global attention to Gaza's humanitarian crisis and to pressure governments to facilitate aid delivery.

In the early hours of 9 June 2025, Israeli naval commandos intercepted the Madleen in international waters approximately 185 km off Gaza's coast, deploying drones to encircle the vessel, spraying a white substance onto its deck, jamming communications, and ordering passengers to discard mobile phones before boarding. After boarding, the yacht was towed to Ashdod Port, where all twelve activists underwent medical examinations and were detained under Israeli law. Spain summoned the Israeli ambassador in Madrid in protest, and Turkey condemned the interception as a breach of freedom of navigation. After writing "Free Palestine" on a wall, Hassan was placed in solitary confinement, and went on a hunger strike. She was ultimately expelled on 12 June and deported to Paris. The United Nations' special rapporteur Francesca Albanese and other international figures called for further flotilla missions to challenge the blockade and deliver essential aid to Gaza.

Cyberbullying Amid the events of 2023 and 2024, Hassan became the target of a harassment campaign by a pro-Israel group of about thirty members. Her phone number was reportedly doxxed via Telegram, leading to an onslaught of death and rape threats directed at her. She was also sent imagery of Palestinians being brutalized.

Arrest On 2 April 2026, Hassan was taken into police custody in France as part of an investigation into an alleged "apologie du terrorisme"- showing support for terrorism, related to a deleted social media post referencing the 1972 Lod Airport massacre. In the post, Hassan quoted a comment made by one of the convicted perpetrators of the attack in an attempt ⁠to justify it in light of what he said was the "oppression" of people in the Palestinian territories. Prosecutors were informed of Hassan's social media post by far-right politician Matthias Renault. La France Insoumise party said her detention was part of a programme to silence supporters of Palestine. A small amount of synthetic drugs was allegedly found in her possession at the time of her detention. Hassan said she carried cannabidiol (CBD) products that were legally purchased in Brussels. The Paris prosecutor's office later confirmed that the trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol found in the CBD were too low to be considered a crime. Hassan was released after questioning The following week, Hassan's lawyer announced that she had filed a complaint for breach of confidentiality against a spokesperson of the Justice Ministry that had allegedly leaked information about her arrest to the press.