The Strasbourg administrative court ruled on Tuesday, November 26: “illegal” the ban, decided by the rector of the city university, of a conference planned at the institution in the presence of MEP Rima Hassan.
The judges considered that the refusal of the university rector to authorize the holding of this congress “freedom of expression violated”the court reported in a press release. The conference, titled “The European Union and international relations, in the presence of MEP Rima Hassan”, would take place on Thursday.
The University of Strasbourg banned it on November 20, citing the risk of disturbing public order in the event of the visit of the Franco-Palestinian jurist, elected in June to the European Parliament on the “rebel” list.
“It is a censorship issue”Rima Hassan threw during the hearing, with a keffiyeh on her right shoulder, asking the court to recognize that there is “a political context, a climate of censorship, in other countries, in other universities”.
Absence of “guarantees” regarding the maintenance of order
Olivier Maetz, who defended the university’s management, assured that the congress ban was not related “to the personality of Mme Hassan nor his ideas »but it arose from the fact that the organizers “refused to comply with university regulations” in terms of security. He maintained that the organizer of the event, the Palestine Unistras Committee, had not “of legal existence” and had not provided “guarantees” regarding the maintenance of order, nor did it specify the number of expected participants. On Instagram, the title of the conference, “European Union Complicity in the Genocide in Gaza,” also differs from the one presented to campus management, the lawyer noted.
The Strasbourg MEP’s lawyer, M.my Florence Dole rejected these arguments, considering that “The difficulty is M’s personality.me Rima Hassan, whom the university does not want to receive in its facilities ».
The Paris administrative court on Friday ordered Sciences Po to allow a conference of Mme Hassan, banned by the school also due to the risk of disturbing public order. Sciences Po plans to appeal.
The MEP, who makes multiple controversial statements about Israel, is the subject of an investigation for “apology for terrorism” after having estimated after October 7 in an interview that it is ” TRUE “ that the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is taking legitimate measures. A truncated excerpt from the interview, according to her.
