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.
The prosecutor’s office in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre told AFP that it had launched an investigation into the tweets over “the dissemination of violent images.” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said earlier that he had alerted police to look into the tweets.
Le Pen sent out a tweet on Wednesday morning, calling on French journalist Jean-Jacques Bourdin to withdraw his comments that suggested there were “links” between Le Pen’s National Front party and the Islamic State. She went on to tweet three images to Bourdin’s account, each showing executions of ISIS victims.
One tweet showed the bloodied body of American journalist James Foley, with his decapitated head places on his torso. Another showed a Jordanian pilot being set on fire in a cage while the third showed a Syrian soldier being crushed to death by a tank. All three tweets were accompanied by the caption “This is Daesh!”
Foley’s family condemned Le Pen’s use of the photograph showing their murdered son, calling on the politician to remove her tweets immediately. “We are deeply disturbed by the unsolicited use of Jim for Le Pen’s political gain,” John and Diane Foley said in a statement.
The family added: “As we have said before, our focus is on Jim’s life and all the good he did in the world. 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.”
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