Justice orders Sciences Po Paris to maintain a conference by Rima Hassan

After an initial ban by the director of Sciences Po, the court ordered the school to hold the Rima Hassan conference. Despite the court's decision, Sciences Po once again indicated in a press release that it was banning the conference.

New development in the holding of the conference of the Franco-Palestinian Rima Hassan, this Friday, November 22, at Sciences Po. The administrative court of Paris, which had been urgently seized by the MEP of La France Insoumise, ordered the director to let the conference take place.

Entitled “Humanitarian, Legal and Geopolitical Perspectives on an Arms Embargo on Israel” and organized by the Students for Justice (SJP) association, the conference was initially banned by the school principal for risk of violation. to public order.

“Serious and illegal attack on freedom of expression”

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 also considers “that in the absence of a call for counter-demonstrations and in view of the progress of previous conferences on Palestine, the director of the IEP could, by resorting to other police measures, avoid possible clashes with people hostile to Rima Hassan”.

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”.

Sciences Po once again refuses the conference

“Huge victory,” Rima Hassan immediately reacted on X. “The IEP of Paris is ordered to find a new date,” his lawyer, Maître Vincent Brengarth, also indicated on the social network.

Despite the decision of the administrative court, Sciences Po assured, at the beginning of the afternoon in a press release, that “there will be no conference by Rima Hassan at Sciences Po this Friday”.

“The judges consider that it is up to the director of Sciences Po to determine as quickly as possible compatible with the proper functioning of the establishment the conditions under which this conference will be held, in particular with regard to the guarantees that the organizers must provide on the security and moderation system for the conference”, specifies the school press release. The management of Sciences Po also specified that it would appeal this court decision.

A pro-Palestinian demonstration was to be held in front of the school, with the presence of Rima Hassan, following the court's announcement of the ban. According to our information, La France Insoumise has ultimately not planned to go to Sciences Po. “The Paris administrative court agrees with us and orders Sciences Po to authorize the conference and find a new date.” This remains “to be confirmed”, according to an Instagram post from the LFI MEP.

Other establishments had already banned the holding of conferences by the 32-year-old lawyer, elected from LFI to the European Parliament, such as the University of Lille, Paris-Dauphine and this week, Strasbourg.