© Pascal RossignolMarine Le Pen
Three images, one showing the decapitated body of US journalist James Foley, were posted to the National Front leader's social media account. The pictures were captioned: "Daesh is THIS!"
Le Pen later removed the image of Foley following protests from Foley's family, but left another showing a tank running over a man in an orange jumpsuit and another of a man being burned alive in a cage. The far-right politician posted the images in response to some French media equating aspects of her political party and the terrorist group.
At the time, prosecutors opened an investigation into the "dissemination of violent images" but could not press charges while Le Pen, as a member of parliament, had immunity from prosecution. This immunity is available to all National Assembly members under the French constitution. In November last year, a cross-party committee voted to strip Le Pen of the protection, citing a "serious, loyal and sincere demand for justice."
Speaking to Le Figaro after her indictment, Le Pen dismissed the charges, saying that the law she was charged under had been devised to protect children from the early version of the internet. "I now have my medal of resistance against Daesh. I am therefore worried about fighting terrorism. It's the world upside down," she said. If convicted, she faces a maximum punishment of a €75,000 fine and up to three years in prison.
In June last year, Le Pen was also placed under formal investigation over the alleged misuse of funds while working as a member of the European Parliament. She has denied the allegations.
UPDATE: 05.03.18 - The Duran reports:
The unelected rulers of the EU in Brussels are about to bring down one of their biggest critics, as lackey French President Macron is moving forward with charges against former French Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.
It is no secret that the EU finds free speech to be a nuisance, and has nothing but contempt for leaders like Le Pen who has historically called out the dictatorial rule of Brussels, by highlighting the endless illegal wars in the Middle East, covert support for ISIS, and promotion of a destructive migrant policy.
The former French National Front leader has now been formally charged with circulating "violent messages that incite terrorism", for a series of tweets she sent after the massacre at Paris concert hall the Bataclan in 2015.
The crime levied against Le Pen is punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.
Zerohedge reports...The move comes after French President Emmanuel Macron announced early this year that, in an effort to "defend liberal democracy", he would push through legislation this year to fight the spread of "fake news" in France. Macron went on to criticize Russian media in particular and accusing RT, a Moscow funded TV channel, of deliberately sowing disinformation and discord (sound familiar?).The irony of the charges brought against Le Pen were noted by the former presidential candidate...
While Macron's announcement was cheered by many on the left, conservatives and those with anti-establishment or right-wing views are (so far justifiably) worried that they might become targets (because there's no better way to defend an open society than to crack down on free speech and enforcing not only official censorship, but, by extension, the self-censorship that these policies encourage.)
And now they have even more reason to be concerned as French prosecutors move to punish - and possibly imprison - a political rival despised by the ruling party.
The charges stem from a series of tweets Le Pen sent in the weeks after the Bataclan massacre, where she shared disturbing photos including images from the beheading of American journalist James Foley. Le Pen later took the photos of Foley down after being contacted by his family.
Other pictures showed a man in an orange jumpsuit being run over by a tank - another showed a man being burned alive in a cage.
"Daesh is this!" Le Pen wrote in a caption. The tweets were a response to a TV journalist drawing a comparison between ISIS and the French far-right."I am being charged for having condemned the horrors of Daesh," Le Pen told AFP.According to Zerohedge, Le Pen has denounced the move as a "lowly, purely political decision" which violated her freedom of expression. Furthermore, it's notable that the French justice system is bringing the hammer down on Le Pen less than a year after she lost to Macron in France's second-round presidential runoff.
"In other countries this would have earned me a medal."It's not just France... Over in the UK, a newly created national security unit set up to combat fake news has elicited outrage from conservatives, who note that the agency is seemingly set up to punish and suppress speech that it suspects of being deliberate disinformation - even if said speech is an example of political satire, which the agency says is "often confused" with real news..
Comment: Marine Le Pen has long been known for her blunt assessment of political reality and though it took them a little time, they've now found an excuse to intimidate her. Whether it will be successful will depend on whether French citizens will allow let them to get away with it: