French politician Julien Odoul has reported La France Insoumise Party’s deputy, Thomas Portes, to the Public Prosecutor’s magistrate office for offenses concerning the promotion and/or the glorification of terrorism.
On Sunday, The Jerusalem Post reported that Portes flew to Lebanon and met with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members shortly after quitting the Global Sumud Flotilla bound for Gaza, citing “personal reasons.”
Among those Portes met with were Salah Hamouri, who was imprisoned in Israel for attempting to assassinate a rabbi and was only released as part of the December 2011 deal to free Gilad Schalit, and Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who was recently released from a French prison after serving 40 years for complicity in the assassination of American and Israeli diplomats.
Portes did not conceal his meeting with PFLP members and instead dedicated an entire X/Twitter post to these encounters on September 26, including pictures and videos from his meeting with PFLP politburo leader Marwan Abdel-Al at the Mar Elias refugee camp in Beirut.
Portes quoted Abdel-Al as saying, “Gaza has put the world in front of a mirror that divides humanity into two blocs: Those who support resistance and those who support genocide,” and “it is not the occupier who will give us a state, but resistance and the sacrifices that will wrest it from them.”
Possible 'glorification of terrorism'
France’s Odoul, a member of the French National Assembly representing the 3rd constituency of Yonne, said that Portes may have committed an offense under Article 421-2-5 of the Penal Code, which pertains to the glorification of terrorism, as provided for by Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Odoul highlighted the fact that the PFLP is on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations, and therefore, presenting the violent actions of a proscribed group as “resistance” may fall under the offenses of glorification or incitement to terrorist acts under Article 421-2-5 of the Penal Code.