French Government Wants to Prosecute Marine Le Pen for Remarks on Muslims

Two Muslim groups are suing the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo after it published inflammatory cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

In a law suit that will revive the debate between freedom of speech and dangerous provocation, the weekly magazine’s director along with two cartoonists are accused of inciting racial hatred and defamation.

The allegations concern cartoons that caricatured the Prophet, including two drawings which show him naked, published at a time, on September 19, when violent anti-Western protests were flaring across the Muslim world in response to an US anti-Islam amateur film.

“Cartoons stigmatised Islam”

Two organisations – the Algerian Democratic Union for Peace and Progress (RDAP) and the Organisation of Arab Union – are claiming a total of €780,000 in costs and damages, according to AFP.

The organisations say the court action is to “defend and support Islamic and/or Arabic people”.

According to the complainants’, the drawings were “damaging to the honour and reputation of the Prophet Mohammed and the Muslim community”.

“They stigmatised Muslims and provoked hatred,” their lawyer Anthony Bem told AFP, adding that “caricatures does not mean anything goes”.

Bem accused Charlie Hebdo of using the backdrop of Muslim protests against the West to boost its sales.

Thousands of extra copies of the weekly had to be ordered after the publications usual print-run of 75,000 sold out within hours of going on sale.

But Richard Malka, lawyer for Charlie Hebdo, hit back, slamming the “exorbitant” charges.

The “accusations” do not take into account the fact the cartoons were made by a satirical magazine, Malka said.

“Once again they are trying to create fear to inhibit the French tradition of satirising religions,” Malka added.

Free speech versus provocation

Charlie Hebdo’s decision to publish the cartoons at the height of anti-West protests across the Muslim world forced the French government to take drastic action to protect the safety of its citizens worldwide.

French embassies and cultural centres were conseqently closed in around 20 Muslim countries.

The publication provoked a heated debate in France with several ministers criticising the magazine’s decision to publish the provocative cartoons, but at the same time making it clear they supported the paper’s right to freedom of speech.

At the time, Charlie Hebdo’s editor, Stephane Charbonnier, described those getting irate over the cartoons as “ridiculous clowns” and accused the government of pandering to them by criticising him for being provocative.

September’s publication of the cartoons was not the first time Charlie Hebdo had provoked Muslim ire. In 2011 its offices were firebombed after it published an edition “guest-edited by Mohammed”, which the satirical weekly called Sharia Hebdo….

Here’s more on Le Pen’s Persecution:

French authorities have asked the European Parliament to lift the immunity of far-right leader Marine Le Pen so she can be prosecuted for comparing Islamic prayers to theNazi occupation, officials said Monday.

Justice ministry spokesman Pierre Rance told AFP the request was sent to European Parliament President Martin Schulz late last month.

A source close to the matter said the request was related to an ongoing judicial probe into remarks made by Le Pen in a speech to supporters of her Front National party in December 2010.

Denouncing the holding of Islamic prayers on the streets of France – where a dearth of mosques has forced many to pray outside — Le Pen said: “For those who like to talk about World War II, to talk about occupation, we could talk about, for once, the occupation of our territory. This is an occupation of parts of our territory. . . . There are no armoured vehicles, no soldiers, but it is an occupation all the same and it weighs on people.” Prosecutors in Lyon, where the speech took place, opened an investigation into the remarks for “inciting racial hatred” in January 2011 following a complaint from an anti-racism group.

Like with many national parliaments, members of the European Parliament enjoy immunity from criminal and civil liability for opinions expressed as part of their duties, unless the chamber votes to lift the immunity.

Le Pen took over the Front National from her father, party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, who has several convictions for racism and anti-Semitism.

Marine Le Pen, who was first elected to the European Parliament in 2004, won 18 percent of the vote in the first round of France’s presidential election in April, the party’s highest-ever score.