French prosecutors have launched an investigation into far-right leader Marine Le Pen after she tweeted graphic images that show killings carried out by Islamic State (ISIS) militants.
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“We choose to use our tragedy to improve the world around us, and Le Pen’s actions go against everything Jim and the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation stand for”.
Accused on French radio yesterday of sharing a “community of spirit” with the so-called caliphate and its jihadist recruits bent on inciting civil war between Muslims and everyone else, how did the leader of the far-right French National Front respond?
In one image a bloodied body lay with his decapitated head on his chest, another depicted a man on fire in a cage, while a third showed a victim being driven over by a tank.
Le Pen tweeted the images Wednesday in response to a journalist who compared her National Front (FN) party to the Islamic State jihadist group which killed Foley.
Le Pen tweeted the images with #Daesh – an acronym for ISIS.
National Front spokesman Alain Vizier would not comment on why Ms Le Pen took down the photo of Mr Foley, who was captured in 2012 and beheaded a year ago, apparently by Briton Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John”.
In later remarks Bourdin dismissed Le Pen’s reaction as “hysterical”. The family issued a press release saying, “We are deeply disturbed by the unsolicited use of Jim for Le Pen’s political gain” and need the pictures taken down “immediately”.
“Those pictures are monstrous”, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on his Twitter account, calling it “a moral and political error, a lack of respect for the victims”.
The minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, told lawmakers he has taken the case to a section of the judicial police that deals with illicit content on the Internet.
He said the photos are “Daesh propaganda and are a disgrace, an abomination and an absolute insult to all victims of…”
“At no point did I say the FN was like Daesh”, he insisted.
“We are only showing the hate-filled ignominy of those who assimilate us with killers”, Collard, who was also placed under investigation, said by way of explanation.
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The anti-immigration FN received 6.8 million votes in regional elections on Sunday, but failed to win a single region after the mainstream parties worked together to block it.
