As reported last week by France 24’s English-language channel and in French by ‘Le Monde.’
A French court trying a case against Marine Le Pen ordered her to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, last week, before it can proceed. Le Pen dialed up the outrage to 11 and said she won’t go.
The case stems from an incident after the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan terrorist attacks when Le Pen posted explicitly gruesome photos on Twitter of violence committed by Da’esh, including one of James Foley after he was beheaded. Le Pen deleted the tweet after a huge public outcry against her, including a demand from Foley’s family.
Nicolas Henin, a TV reporter who was captured and held by Da’esh in Syria for almost a year tweeted the message below. It says, “Le Pen matter. The Foley family demands Marine Le Pen immediately delete the photo of their assassinated son."
Le Pen tweeted the photos after the popular BFMTV interviewer, Jacques Bourdin, drew a parallel between the politics of grievance used by terrorists and by Le Pen’s Front National party, to incite their followers.
Le Pen tweeted her outrage and demanded that he retract his statement.
Then she tweeted a second message that said, “This is Da’ech,” accompanied by the photos of Foley’s decapitated body and others. Bourdin stood by his statement and refused to back down. Le Pen deleted the offending tweet right away when the law stepped in.
Under the French penal code, it’s against the law to distribute materials that are harmful to minors. The offense includes violent and/or pornographic images and messages sent through print, broadcast, or online media when they endanger or harm the children who are exposed to them.
Le Pen immediately reacted angrily to the court order, casting herself as the victim of a Macron plot to silence the opposition. The message says: “This is really UNBELIEVABLE. This government is REALLY starting to scare me.”
The court replied by pointing out the specific statute that requires a psychiatric evaluation in cases where a defendant is charged with a criminal offense against children.
So far, the matter is at a stand-off.