Justice orders to maintain a conference by Rima Hassan

A victory for Rima Hassan. This Friday, the Paris administrative court ordered Sciences Po to maintain a conference by the Franco-Palestinian MEP from La France insoumise, initially banned.

“The summary judges of the Paris administrative court order Sciences Po Paris to allow this conference to be held under conditions guaranteeing its smooth running and likely to prevent the risk of disturbances to public order,” writes the court in a press release.

“Huge victory”

This conference, entitled “Humanitarian, Legal and Geopolitical Perspectives on an Arms Embargo on Israel”, organized by the Students for Justice (SJP) association, was initially scheduled to be held this Friday.

“Huge victory,” reacted immediately on X Rima Hassan. “The IEP of Paris is ordered to find a new date,” his lawyer Vincent Brengarth also indicated on X. The director of Sciences Po did not authorize this conference due to the risk of breaching public order.

A question of public order

In his decision, the judge “considers that there is no circumstantial element to consider that this conference, the subject of which is technical and for which the organizers have planned different methods of maintaining order, would encourage students to resort to illegal actions to express their beliefs.”

He concludes “that by banning the planned conference, the director of the IEP of Paris has caused a serious and manifestly illegal attack on the freedom of expression and assembly guaranteed to users of the public service of higher education”.