Laurent Nunez allegedly spread a false story about left-wing lawmaker Rima Hassan while she was in custody over a social media post<\/p>\n
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez is under fire over allegations that he helped fuel a false drug story about MEP and prominent pro-Palestine activist Rima Hassan while she was in custody over a social media post.\u00a0
\nHassan\u2019s left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI), or France Unbowed party, has demanded that Nunez resign after a France 2 investigation released Wednesday alleged he leaked a false story to reporters about drugs purportedly found in Hassan\u2019s belongings by police.
\nThe drug was later identified as legal CBD (cannabidiol) and the probe was dropped, prompting LFI to accuse Nunez of media \u201cmanipulation\u201d and fueling a false story.
\nWhat exactly happened?
\nThe case dates back to April, when Hassan was summoned to Paris police headquarters over a since-deleted social media post quoting Kozo Okamoto. Okamoto, a member of the Japanese Red Army, was convicted over the 1972 Lod Airport attack in Tel Aviv, carried out on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which killed 26 people.<\/p>\n
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The French-Palestinian MEP and prominent pro-Palestinian activist was placed in custody on suspicion of online \u201capology for terrorism,\u201d an offense punishable by up to seven years in prison.
\nDuring an inventory of her belongings, police found two containers, one holding a brown substance and another containing white crystals. Hassan said both were CBD products legally bought in Brussels and used for medical reasons.
\nA preliminary police test indicated the white substance contained synthetic cathinones associated with illegal drugs. Before laboratory results were available \u2013 and while Hassan was still in custody \u2013 reports that synthetic drugs had been found among her belongings began circulating in the media.
\nThe Paris prosecutor\u2019s office subsequently opened an investigation into her suspected drug use, transport, and possession. However, laboratory tests later established that the substances were CBD, and the investigation was dropped.<\/p>\n
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Now, according to \u201cComplement d\u2019enquete,\u201d Nunez himself allegedly helped fuel the story.
\nWhat did Nunez tell reporters?
\nThe program says Nunez was returning by train from an official trip to Bordeaux when reporters approached him and asked off camera whether drugs had been found in Hassan\u2019s bag.
\n\u201cHe told us: \u2018It\u2019s possible that it\u2019s true.\u2019 Then he told us it was a synthetic \u2018stuff,\u2019 and that the second product was a cocaine derivative,\u201d one journalist recalled.
\nAnother said Nunez relayed Hassan\u2019s explanation that she had bought the substances in Belgium believing they were legal. Yet another reporter on the train subsequently told his newsroom, based on Nunez\u2019s account, that \u201csynthetic drugs derived from cocaine\u201d had been found among Hassan\u2019s belongings.
\nNunez initially agreed to an interview with France 2 before withdrawing and did not answer written questions. His office told AFP that \u201cthe reported exchange took place during an off-the-record discussion with the media,\u201d initiated by journalists about information that had already been published.<\/p>\n
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Meanwhile, Nunez publicly lamented the leaks the following day.
\n\u201cI also regret that there have been leaks; I understand that there were some leaks before the prosecutor\u2019s office spoke out,\u201d he told BFMTV.
\nFrance Unbowed demands Nunez\u2019s resignation
\nFollowing the latest revelations, LFI demanded\u00a0Nunez step down, accusing the government of media \u201cmanipulation\u201d against a political opponent.
\n\u201cThe disclosure of information protected by the confidentiality of judicial proceedings and its subsequent exploitation by the media are incompatible with the principles of the rule of law,\u201d the party said in a statement, adding: \u201cLa France Insoumise is calling for his resignation.\u201d
\nLFI founder Jean-Luc Melenchon went further, writing\u00a0on X: \u201cA manipulative minister manipulates unscrupulous journalists with neither scruples nor professional conscience. Hours of slander.\u201d He accused those involved of acting under the influence of \u201chatred of Palestinians and support for genocide.\u201d
\nLFI coordinator Manuel Bompard also attacked Nunez over the apparent contradiction between the alleged private exchange and his subsequent public comments.
\n\u201cIt is not normal for a minister of the interior to violate the law, to contribute to the dissemination of information protected by investigative secrecy, especially when he himself then goes on television to say that he regrets these leaks,\u201d Bompard told France Inter.<\/p>\n
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Hassan also demanded Nunez resign.
\n\u201cThis crass\u00a0political manipulation has gone on long enough. He must draw the consequences and resign!\u201d she wrote\u00a0on X, portraying the episode as part of a wider campaign against her. \u201cGag\u00a0procedures, surveillance measures, phone geolocation, false information about an alleged possession of narcotics, spread by the Minister of the Interior in person… How far will this go? What will the next step be?\u201d
\nThe Paris Prosecutor\u2019s Office opened an investigation into breaches of investigative confidentiality, while Hassan and her lawyer, Vincent Brengarth, filed a complaint over the disclosure of protected information. Brengarth has also called for Nunez to be questioned by a judge \u201cas soon as possible.\u201d
\nWhat\u2019s behind the Nunez-Hassan clash?
\nThe granddaughter of displaced Palestinians, Hassan was born in a refugee camp in Aleppo and came to France as a child. She has since emerged as one of France\u2019s most prominent pro-Palestinian political figures, campaigning to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, pressing the Palestinian issue in the European Parliament and joining Gaza-bound humanitarian flotillas.
\nHer activism, however, has put her at the center of repeated legal and police scrutiny in France. By mid-2026, Hassan had faced more than 20 legal proceedings and numerous police summonses, many of which were dropped or dismissed \u2013 something her supporters cite as evidence that the cases are being used to intimidate her and damage her reputation.
\nTensions with the French authorities escalated over her social media post quoting Okamoto. Investigative reports revealed that police had tracked Hassan\u2019s phone location and obtained detailed rail and air travel records, including movements predating the formal investigation. Hassan challenged the surveillance which she described as \u201cpolitico-judicial harassment\u201d in a privacy complaint.<\/p>\n
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Her activism has also brought confrontations abroad. Hassan has accused Israeli forces of physically mistreating her after detaining her during Gaza-bound humanitarian missions, including following the interception of the Madleen at sea in June 2025.
\nNunez, meanwhile, defended the French investigation into Hassan, arguing that \u201capologizing for terrorism is a very serious offense.\u201d He also insisted there was \u201cno witch hunt\u201d against her. Hassan and LFI see it differently, accusing the government of stretching anti-terrorism laws to criminalize political speech and suppress pro-Palestinian activism. They have characterized the string of proceedings as politically motivated \u201clegal warfare.\u201d
\nIs France anti-Palestine?
\nPresident Emmanuel Macron\u2019s government supports a two-state solution and has become increasingly critical of Israeli policies of late, while backing the Palestinian Authority and calling for Hamas, which France classifies as a terrorist organization, to be excluded from governing Gaza and disarmed.
\nAt home, however, French authorities have taken a far tougher approach to pro-Palestinian rhetoric deemed to cross legal boundaries. In 2014, France moved the offense of \u201capology for terrorism\u201d (apologie du terrorisme) from its press law into the Penal Code, giving prosecutors greater scope to pursue individuals accused of defending or praising terrorist acts. Under this legal framework, French authorities have pursued a range of high-profile figures over controversial speech, including right-wing commentator Eric Zemmour, prominent Islamologist Francois Burgat, and pro-Palestinian activist Mahdieh Esfandiari.<\/p>\n
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LFI argues those powers are being disproportionately used against opposition politicians and pro-Palestinian activists. Its National Assembly leader, Mathilde Panot, said in April that under Macron, \u201cthe criminalization of political opponents has reached a new level.\u201d
\nHassan\u2019s trial for alleged \u201capology for terrorism,\u201d initially scheduled for July, was postponed at her defense\u2019s request and is now due in October.
\nUpdate
\nNunez rejected his role in the incident involving Hassan on Thursday, telling a National Assembly hearing that he had \u201cnot organized any leaks.\u201d He acknowledged discussing Hassan\u2019s case with reporters off the record, but again insisted they already had the information and had approached him for comment.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t organize any leaks,\u201d he repeated, saying he had instead \u201curged caution\u201d during the exchange.
\nCommenting on X, Bompard seized\u00a0on the admission, accusing Nunez of confirming information protected by investigative secrecy and calling it a \u201cvery serious violation of the law,\u201d while renewing demands for his resignation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Laurent Nunez allegedly spread a false story about left-wing lawmaker Rima Hassan while she was in custody over a social media post French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez is under fire…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t