Marine Le Pen stripped of political immunity over Twitter IS pics by French parliament
Marine Le Pen, firebrand leader of France’s far-right National Front party, has lost her immunity from prosecution over the publication of graphic IS Twitter images in 2015.
Marine Le Pen shorn of political immunity over Twitter IS pics by French parliament
The move by a cross-party committee in the French parliament opens up the prospect of Le Pen being prosecuted for sharing three horrific images posted by the terror group; including one showing the decapitated body of US hostage James Foley.
Le Pen deleted the image following a social media backlash claiming that she had been unaware of the man’s identity and the opening of a criminal prosecution case, subsequently halted owing to her political immunity.
Responding to her stripped immunity Le Pen wrote on Twitter: “Better to be a jihadist returning [to France] from Syria than an MP who denounces the abasement of Islamic State: one takes fewer judicial risks".
Should the case be reopened le Pen faces the prospect of a fine or even imprisonment.
Le Pen's fall from grace follows a period of ascendency in French politics which saw her seek to 'detoxify' the far-right brand, only to lose heavily to Emmanuel Macron in presidential elections.