French Far-Right Leader Loses Immunity, Faces Charges
Let me go on record as saying that this is absolutely wrong. It does nothing to diminish the far right, and it abrogates basic Human rights. Hate speech laws are wrong, they feed persecution and victimization paranoias that far right extremists use as justification for evil actions. It causes the haters and bigots to go underground, hiding their evil behind masks and it does nothing to diminish their influence. Instead bigots must be allowed to speak freely so that average citizens will know exactly how evil and misguided they are. The best way to combat the far right is by openly and persistently pointing out their paranoia, overturning their lies, and exposing their tribal supremacist propaganda.
The French authorities opened a case against Mrs Le Pen in 2011 after she likened the sight of Muslims praying in the streets to the Nazi occupation of France.
As a European Parliament member (MEP), she enjoyed immunity from prosecution.
However, this protection was removed by a European parliamentary committee in a secret vote this week.
BBC chief political correspondent Gary O’Donoghue says he has been told that the vote to remove her immunity was “overwhelming”.
It will need to be ratified by the full parliament, but that’s expected to be a formality, our correspondent says.