“Inhuman”, “a shame”… Rima Hassan’s vote on the release of Sansal provokes reactions, we explain

On Thursday, European deputies voted by an overwhelming majority (533 votes for, 24 against and 48 abstentions) a resolution to request the release of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, imprisoned since mid-November in Algeria. And among those who did not vote “for”, the delegation from La France insoumise, including Rima Hassan and Manon Aubry. Which did not fail to provoke a reaction, both on the left and on the right. 20 Minutes recaps.

What happened?

A resolution to demand the release of writer Boualem Sansal as well as other critics of Algerian power was adopted Thursday in the European Parliament.

Boualem Sansal, aged 75, has been incarcerated since mid-November in Algeria and prosecuted under article 87 bis of the Penal Code, which punishes “as a terrorist or subversive act, any act targeting the security of the State, territorial integrity, stability and normal functioning of institutions”. According to The Worldthe Algerian government would have taken the writer's statements to the French media badly Bordersreputed to be far-right, taking up Morocco's position according to which the country's territory was truncated under French colonization for the benefit of Algeria.

The text, submitted Thursday by elected officials from five of the eight political groups in the European Parliament (conservatives of the EPP, socialists, nationalists of ECR, liberals of Renew and ecologists), was adopted by a large majority (533 votes for, 24 against ). The delegation of La France insoumise (LFI) was divided between votes against and abstentions. MP Rima Hassan voted against, while the leader of the group, Manon Aubry, abstained.

Who criticizes Rima Hassan’s “against” vote?

From Thursday, the reactions followed one another. First on the far right, with Jordan Bardella who spoke on of an authoritarian regime and the community interests of its electoral clientele. »

“By refusing to support a French citizen arbitrarily detained in the jails of Algerian power, the friends of (Jean-Luc Mélenchon) continue in this outrageous line which consists of systematically approving attacks against France,” wrote the president. LR of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand.

On Europe1/CNews, it was the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, who added: “You realize that this resolution requested the immediate release of a sick man, an elderly man. And Mrs. Rima Hassan said ''no, I refuse, I vote against''. It's inhumane, it's politically scandalous. And I also ask LFI to justify itself. »

Also on the left, the vote of LFI MEPs caused an outcry. Former Insoumis François Ruffin said he was in “complete disagreement” with the choice of his former comrades. “A writer's place is not in prison, whether we agree or not with what he writes. Obviously we must do everything for the release of a writer,” he reacted on France Inter.

“It’s a shame! Frankly, to abstain or vote against such a factual text where there is nothing ideological, nothing historical that is contestable, is simply to condone the imprisonment of an immense writer in jails and that is deeply scandalous,” Raphaël Glucksmann, who sits with the Socialists, declared on BFMTV/RMC. “Our vision of the world, our principles are not the same, Our relationship to public debate is not the same. Let’s stop the hypocrisy,” he pleaded. For the latter, this vote is an additional argument to justify the break in France between socialists and Insoumis.

What does Rima Hassan say?

Through several publications on X, MEP Rima Hassan responded to the attacks against her. “Not voting for this text does not mean opposing the release of Mr. Sansal […] it is to oppose the exploitation that is made of his case,” she defended herself.

“We of course remain attentive to the subject of human rights in Algeria as in the rest of the world and I invite the defenders of Sansal to deploy as much energy to defend the human rights of the Palestinians,” she added.