Rima Hassan voted against the European Parliament resolution calling for the release of Boualem Sansal. MAXPPP – TERESA SUAREZ/FREDERIC VENNARECCI
On Thursday, January 23, MEPs voted on a resolution calling for the release of Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal. Despite being adopted by an overwhelming majority (533 votes in favor, 24 against and 48 abstentions), the vote by LFI MEPs sparked an outcry.
Imprisoned since mid-November in Algeria, Boualem Sansal, an 85-year-old writer, was at the heart of a vote in the European Parliament on Thursday, January 23. The 605 MEPs voted for a resolution demanding his release as well as other criticisms of the Algerian government. But the vote of the LFI delegation caused outrage. On both the left and the right. The votes of La France Insoumise were split between four votes against and two abstentions. Rima Hassan voted against, while Manon Aubry abstained.
“Shame”, “inhuman”, “scandalous”… Rima Hassan pinned
“It's a shame! Frankly, abstaining or voting against such a factual text where there is nothing ideological, nothing historical that is questionable, is simply condoning the imprisonment of an immense writer in jails and it is deeply scandalous”, declared on BFMTV/RMC the socialist MEP Raphaël Glucksmann. The former Insoumis François Ruffin said in that he “completely disagreed” with the vote 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 to free a writer”, he reacted on France Inter.
Raphaël Glucksmann (Place publique) qualifie de “honte” le vote de l’eurodéputée Rima Hassan contre la libération de Boualem Sansal pic.twitter.com/eK71g9AxQL
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There was also outcry on the right. “You realize that this resolution demanded the immediate release of a sick man, an elderly man. And Mrs. Rima Hassan said no, I refuse, I vote against. It is inhuman, it is politically scandalous. And I ask LFI to justify itself”, added the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau on Europe 1/Cnews.
Rima Hassan defends herself, the rift between LFI and socialists is growing
Rima Hassan defended herself on X by affirming in particular “to oppose the exploitation that is being made” of Mr. Sansal's case by the right and the extreme right in the already stormy relations between France and its former colony. Mr. Retailleau admitted that Boualem Sansal was “without doubt the hostage of this tense relationship between the two countries.” Before asking “the Algerian regime for a humanitarian gesture”.
Bon, sur M. Sansal et le vote qui a eu lieu aujourd’hui au parlement :
Voici pourquoi j’ai voté contre 😊 👇— Rima Hassan (@RimaHas) January 23, 2025
According to the French daily Le Monde, the Algerian authorities took badly Mr. Sansal's statements to the French media Frontières, known to be far-right, taking up Morocco's position that the country's territory had been truncated under French colonization for the benefit of Algeria. For Mr. Glucksmann, this vote is an additional argument to justify the break in France between socialists and Insoumis. “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.