Additional investigation implicates Laurent Nuñez in the dissemination of false information about Rima Hassan

The program Complément d'investigation, broadcast this Thursday on France 2, claims that the Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez participated in the dissemination of inaccurate information on the drugs held by MEP Rima Hassan in April, his entourage evoking "an off-the-record discussion with the media" on "information already known".

“The exchange reported took place as part of an off-the-record discussion with the media, launched at the initiative of the journalists regarding information already known and published much earlier, that of Rima Hassan's custody on April 2, and the fact that she allegedly held narcotics,” the minister's entourage told AFP on Wednesday. “Questioned in the context of this off-the-record exchange by several journalists, the Minister of the Interior called for caution regarding the facts mentioned,” we added.

On April 2, Rima Hassan was summoned and placed in police custody for advocating terrorism for one of her posts on But the investigation into possible possession of narcotics was dismissed by the Paris prosecutor's office after analysis of the two containers found. According to Complément d'investigation, the Minister of the Interior “in person partly contributed to the dissemination of this false information”.

On April 2, returning from a trip to Bordeaux with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, Laurent Nuñez, questioned on the train about the presence of drugs in the MEP's bag, said, according to one of the journalists interviewed by the program and quoted Wednesday in an article by franceinfo: "It may be that it is correct", evoking "a synthetic thing" for the first product and "a derivative of cocaine" for the second, adding "that it doesn’t know much about it.” According to another journalist cited by franceinfo, the minister gave “the point of view of Rima Hassan, who, while in police custody, explained that she bought these substances in Belgium and that she thought it was authorized.”

“Such facts, if they were to be confirmed, would be exceptionally serious and would characterize an additional attack on the secrecy of the investigation as well as the presumption of innocence,” reacted Rima Hassan’s lawyer, Maître Vincent Brengarth. The lawyer requests the opening of a judicial investigation to “immediately identify the people behind these leaks and to understand their motivations” as well as the hearing by a judge of Laurent Nuñez “as soon as possible”.

Manuel Bompard, coordinator of La France insoumise, asks Laurent Nuñez to "take full responsibility by leaving his post. For the MP, "It is not normal for a Minister of the Interior to violate the law, to contribute to disseminating information which is protected by confidentiality, especially when he himself then comes on television to say that he regrets these leaks", reacts Manuel Bompard, Thursday, on France Inter.

“All the information that refers to the possession of drugs is false and was knowingly relayed with the sole aim of harming me in the context of the procedures to which I am subject,” Rima Hassan denounced the day after her custody. “A manipulative minister manipulates journalists without scruple or professional conscience. Hours of slander. All this under the influence of a drug well known to supremacist circles: hatred of the Palestinians and support for genocide,” reacted the leader of the Insoumis, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, on X.