Frances Marine Le Pen Ordered to Undergo Psychiatric Tests Over Graphic Tweets
French far-right politician Marine Le Pen expressed indignation Thursday over a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation in response to photos she tweeted of violent acts committed by the Islamic State. Le Pen tweeted copies of the court order, which was issued last week instructing her to undertake testing "as soon as possible," Agence France-Presse reports. Le Pen called the directive "crazy.", "I thought I had been through it all well, no! For having condemned Daesh ISIS horrors in tweets, the justice system' is putting me through psychiatric tests! Just how far will they go?" she tweeted, according to AFP. Le Pen had shared the shocking images in December 2015, a few weeks after ISIS-aligned militants launched coordinated attacks that killed 130 people around Paris, including at the Bataclan concert hall. Then-French President Franois Hollande called the attacks "an act of war.", Read more Paris Attack Time Magazine Reporting, Le Pen was stripped of parliamentary immunity over the graphic tweets, which included images of executed American journalist James Foley, and charged with disseminating violent images that could be viewed by a minor. She faces up to three years in prison and a fine of 87,000 if convicted. Le Pen insisted that she would not comply with the court-ordered evaluation, which is not enforceable, according to AFP. She also received support from other far-right figures, including Steve Bannon and Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who expressed "solidarity with her and those French people who love liberty.", Read more Behind the Power of Marine Le Pen, Le Pen, who leads France's far-right National Rally party, lost to Emmanuel Macon in last year's presidential vote. Her party was founded by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who has been accused of espousing anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant sentiments. He was suspended from the party in 2015. In Dec. 2015, Marine Le Pen was also charged with "inciting discrimination" after comparing Muslim public prayers to Nazi wartime occupation of Europe. She was acquitted.