France’s – and Europe’s – well known and popular “populist” movement leader Marine Le Pen – alternatively dubbed as being “far-right” by some media – is in hot legal water once again.
This vocal critic of Islamic terrorism, to the point of being perceived as “anti-Islamic” just in general, is now facing trial in France for sharing gruesome photos three years ago of atrocities committed by “Islamic State” (IS, ISIS, DAESH).
The graphic images of a string of atrocities allegedly committed by the terrorist organization – nowadays apparently largely defeated in their hotbed of Syria – used to rule the news cycle back in 2015.
Late that year – shortly after what the state-owned France 24 broadcaster calls “IS jihadists” launched attacks in Paris, killing 130 people – Islamic State was a particularly fashionable means in some quarters of denouncing others as being “just as bad.”
Le Pen – the leader of the National Rally party, that came out victorious in the recent European Parliament elections in France – in 2015 tweeted the images as she sought to defend herself from a French journalist comparing her party to “Islamic State.”
Angered by this and attempting to prove the absurdity of the claim, Le Pen opted to tweet the pictures, that included the beheaded body of American journalist James Foley, and two more, showing people being run over by tanks and burned alive in cages.
And now – a judge Paris has charged Le Pen with disseminating “violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity.”
If found guilty, Le Pen could be ordered to spend three years in jail and pay a fine of $85,000.
And in 2018, Le Pen’s tweets showcasing Islamic State atrocities – as a means to condemn them – prompted an investigative magistrate to call for her to “undergo psychiatric tests,” the broadcaster said.
On Thursday, Le Pen again took to Twitter – (tweet in French) to denounce her prosecutors – or persecutors, as she views them, for outrageously going after IS (“DAESH”) detractors like herself, while “welcoming jihadists with open arms.”
“It says a lot about the state of political and moral decay of our ruling ‘elites’,” tweeted this leading French, and European populist figure.
