On December 2015, National Front leader Marine Le Pen tweeted three pictures of ISIS atrocities. She did it, in her words, because she was outraged her movement had been compared to ISIS on French television.
Furor ensued. One of the pictures was that of murdered journalist James Foley; after Foley’s parents complained, she took the picture down. But overall she didn’t back from her actions, pointing out the comparison was out of bounds.
The French government opened an investigation into Le Pen’s actions. After a few months, she was charged under a French law that prohibits the distribution of “violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity”, and can be viewed by a minor. Notice this law is so broad, even a cruel joke could be deemed to harm human dignity. The French parliamentary majority stripped Ms. Le Pen of her parliamentary immunity to allow the prosecution to go forward. She could face up to three years in prison.
Lifting parliamentary immunity is outrageous. Immunity exists precisely for cases such as this one, in which a member of parliament protests an unjust law or practice. But that doesn’t apply to Marine Le Pen—this is not the first time her immunity has been lifted.
Abusing Psychiatry
As part of the prosecutorial process, a French court has ordered Ms. Le Pen to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. She has refused to comply. Ms. Le Pen points out that in a case such as hers, a psychiatric evaluation would be used to humiliate her.
This tactic of using psychiatry against dissidents was a common practice in the Soviet bloc. The reasoning was, only a madman would rebel against the inevitable triumph of Communism. We see the same impulse today in the demonization of religious conservatives (they are wrong in the head), or of dissidents at Universities. The French state psychiatric evaluations should at least raise suspicion.
A Perversion of Justice
The case against Marine Le Pen is a perversion of justice. A law designed against terrorism is being used to silence a critic of terrorism. Her parliamentary immunity has been lifted, in a political case for which such immunity is designed. Medicine is being perverted too, in the pursuit of a political end. Ms. Le Pen should not back off from any of this, and fight the bogus charges tooth and nail.
