Rima Hassan

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rima Hassan

• Rima’s paternal grandparents were Palestinians from Al-Birwa, a village near Acre. They were forced to leave their home and move to Syria during the 1948 Nakba, when around 700,000 Palestinians were displaced during the Arab-Israeli War, losing their homes and villages.

• Hassan’s maternal grandmother was born into Syria’s prominent Kurdish Hananu family. Despite her privileged upbringing, she decided to marry a Palestinian refugee from Salfit, who was also a communist, and started a new life with him in a refugee camp.

• Rima Hassan’s mother left the refugee camp and moved to France shortly after Rima was born. She left because of an abusive marriage and went to live with her sister in France; her mother did not take Rima with her at the time.

• Rima’s mother spent the next eight years trying to win custody of her children so they could join her in France.

• Rima was about nine years old when she moved to France and was reunited with her mother in Niort, a town in the Deux-Sèvres district, where she lived with her sister and four brothers.

• Although her mother had been a teacher, she worked in a restaurant in France to support the family.

• During her school years, Rima faced racial slurs like ‘bougnoule’ by classmates, which over time led her to lose fluency in Arabic, her first language.

• In 2003, she became a member of Niort’s municipal council for children.

• Rima Hassan, who had no citizenship during her early years, was granted French nationality in 2010.

• After turning 18, she tried to travel to Palestine via Tel Aviv to visit her ancestral land but was stopped from boarding at Charles de Gaulle Airport in France.

• In 2011, Rima earned a scientific baccalaureate from La Venise Verte High School in Niort.

• Hassan volunteered with AFEV from January 2011 to June 2013 to help reduce social inequalities in underprivileged neighbourhoods in France. She offered academic support, promoted education, and supported young people from disadvantaged backgrounds (ZEP).

• Rima later pursued a bachelor’s degree in law. She studied for two years at the University of Évry Val d’Essonne and completed her final year at the University of Montpellier in France.

• Rima interned at Cabinet AVODÈS, a law firm in Niort, France, from June 2014 to August 2014. During this time, she worked on legal files, summarised cases, assisted with client meetings, and participated in court hearings and decisions.

• After spending a year in Lebanon, Rima earned her master’s degree in International Law from Panthéon-Sorbonne University in 2016. Her thesis examined the legal treatment of apartheid in both South Africa and Israel.

• Hassan worked as a Research Assistant at the Institut Français du Proche-Orient (IFPO) in Beirut from September 2014 to February 2015. She researched how states broke down during the Arab Spring, how globalisation led to protests, and compared revolutions in Africa and Latin America.

• From February to July 2015, Rima worked as a Research Assistant at the Observatory of International Conflicts in Arab Countries in Beirut, under the direction of Marie Ghantous. During this time, she focused on studying conflicts and political issues affecting Arab countries.

• In 2016, Rima Hassan began her career in refugee protection by joining Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides (OFPRA), also known as the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons.

• At OFPRA, Rima worked on the follow-up of refugee cases and procedures to end international protection. She was also a key member of the group focused on human trafficking. She held this role until November 2017.

• Rima worked as a Teaching Assistant in Public International Law at the University of Franche-Comté in Besançon, France, from September 2017 to September 2018. She taught third-year law students as part of the law school faculty.

• In December 2017, Hassan joined the National Court of Asylum, where she worked on asylum-related cases for six years, until 2023.

• In 2019, Rima founded Refugee Camps Observatory, an NGO that focused on researching and reporting the living conditions in refugee camps.

• In May 2020, Hassan spoke to Agence France-Presse about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on refugees, highlighting serious concerns about their health and safety in overcrowded camps.

  

• On 20 June 2020, she participated in a roundtable discussion organised by Emmaus, a French solidarity organisation, for World Refugee Day.

  

• In September 2020, Hassan collaborated with various groups and associations to pressure the French government and local leaders to support the relocation of refugees, aiming to improve the humanitarian crisis at the Mória camp in Greece.

• From December 2020 to January 2022, Rima was part of the founding committee for the Marianne Initiative, launched by the French Presidency to support human rights defenders worldwide. The initiative was officially launched at the Élysée Palace on 10 December 2021.

• Rima served as a board member of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) France from July 2021 to June 2022, contributing to the organisation’s strategic direction and humanitarian efforts.

• In 2022, she joined a podcast conversation that explored new perspectives on ‘fraternity,’ one of the core values in France’s national motto.

• That same year, she was recognised as an ‘Inspirational Woman’ by France’s Interministerial Delegation for Reception and Integration (DIAIR).

• On 3 February 2022, Rima delivered a talk at the Israel-Palestine: State of Affairs symposium held at the French Senate, where she spoke about apartheid policies in Israel. The event was organised by Paris Senator Esther Benbassa, in partnership with L’Histoire and the French Research Center in Jerusalem.

  

• Hassan co-led a seminar at iReMMO on international and comparative law in the Mediterranean and Middle East between July 2022 and June 2024. Alongside legal advisor Leïla Bourguiba, she examined legal issues in the region, including human rights and state legitimacy.

• Hassan was a member of the Expert Committee at the ISM Interprétariat Observatory from September 2022 to September 2023. The committee focused on issues related to migrant integration and access to rights.

• In 2023, Rima Hassan faced major backlash after a past interview resurfaced where she called the October 7 Hamas attacks “legitimate.” She was called in for questioning by French officials, and some events she was supposed to attend, like a Forbes France gala, were cancelled.

• Rima’s support for Palestine during the 2023-2024 Israel-Hamas war led to online harassment. A pro-Israel group allegedly leaked her phone number on Telegram, leading to death and rape threats. She also received graphic images showing violence against Palestinians.

• In August 2023, Hassan attended the Ecologists’ annual summer gathering, a political event that brings together activists, artists, and public figures. She participated in sessions alongside rapper Médine and left-wing politician Clémentine Autain.

• Rima has consistently advocated for a democratic binational state as a means to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She uses the slogan “from the river to the sea,” saying it is not connected to Hamas, and calls Israel’s treatment of Palestinians “apartheid.”

• In response to the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack and Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Rima resigned from her position at the National Court of Asylum Law and declined a migration policy role offered by Amnesty International.

• She later returned to the Neirab refugee camp and launched the Action Palestine France group on Telegram to support her community.

• Rima served on L’Oréal’s Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Board from May 2023 to March 2024. She helped guide the company’s efforts to support inclusive practices and promote equal opportunities worldwide.

• Rima Hassan contested the 2024 European Parliament election and won a seat. She was placed seventh on the La France Insoumise (LFI) list.

  

• Hassan was initially approached by The Greens to join their list, but since they offered her a low position with little chance of being elected, she declined.

• In 2024, she became a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Subcommittee on Human Rights, and also served as a substitute member of the Budget Committee.
• In June 2025, Rima joined a group sailing to Gaza on a boat called Madleen as part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. One of the people with her was climate activist Greta Thunberg.

  

• Rima, along with others, was later arrested by Israeli authorities in international waters. After being placed in solitary confinement for writing ‘Free Palestine’ on her cell wall, she began a hunger strike to protest her treatment in prison.