The leader of France’s far-right party Marine Le Pen has been charged for posting violent ISIS images on Twitter

The leader of France’s far-right party Marine Le Pen has been charged for posting violent ISIS images on Twitter

Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right party Front National, has been charged for photos she posted on Twitter supposedly showing violent and gruesome acts committed by ISIS. As reported by AFP, she is facing charges of circulating “violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity.” Le Pen lost parliamentary immunity last March, which cleared the way for authorities to prosecute her over the tweets she posted in 2015.

Le Pen wrote “Daesh is THIS” alongside the images. (Daesh is the Arabic acronym for ISIS). One image showed the body of American journalist James Foley, who was beheaded by extremists, and another showed a man being burned alive. Le Pen removed the photo of Foley after his family denounced the post.

“I am being charged for having condemned the horrors of Daesh,” Le Pen told AFP news agency. “In other countries, this would have earned me a medal.” If convicted, the French politician will face a potential three years in jail as well as a €75,000 fine (about $92,000).

Le Pen was a presidential candidate in France’s election last year, but lost to Emmanuel Macron. She made the Twitter posts several weeks after the Paris terror attacks in November 2015 which killed 129 people.

Source: The Verge