Trial for Marine Le Pen over Muslim prayer comment

The FN leader made the comments in a speech during a party rally in Lyon in 2010. “Yes, of course. I wouldn’t miss such an occasion,” she said as quoted by AFP. She was referring to French Muslims forced to pray on the streets because mosques are overcrowded. “Indeed there are no tanks, no soldiers, but there is an occupation just the same, and it weighs on the inhabitants”.

She will be judged on October 20 over charges of “incitement to discrimination over people’s religious beliefs”, the prosecutor’s office in Lyon said.

“I’m sorry but for those who like talking a lot about World War II, if it comes to talking about the occupation, we can talk about it, because that is the occupation of territory”.

A judicial enquiry which was opened in January 2012 after a complaint made by an association.

The charge, which relates to comments that Le Pen made to a group of party activists in eastern France 2010, creates an unfortunate distraction for the far-right leader as she seeks election in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in December.

Le Pen was put under formal investigation in July 2014 after her immunity as a member of the European Parliament was lifted following a vote requested by French authorities.

Ms Le Pen believes her suspicions of Islam are shared by “a majority of French people” and that the trial will highlight “violations of secularism in France”.

“Political leaders must be able to speak without being afraid of being taken before a judge”, he said.

The 47-year-old, who is widely expected to win a regional election in the north of France in December, called the trial a “scandal”. “Those who denounce the illegal behavior of fundamentalists are more likely to be sued than the fundamentalists who behave illegally”.

Amid the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe, the National Front, which is traditionally anti-EU and anti-immigration, rates high in the opinion polls.

Despite growing in popularity, the FN has suffered after a rift between Marine and her father and the party’s founder Jean-Marie Le Pen led to her ousting him as the party’s head.

Le Pen has leaned on traditional party arguments, calling for an end to Europe’s borderless Schengen zone as well as actions seen as enticing migrants to France.