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.
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.
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