France's Le Pen Ordered to Undergo Psychiatric Tests over IS Tweets

AFP - French far-right leader Marine Le Pen expressed outrage Thursday after being ordered to undergo psychiatric tests for tweeting pictures of atrocities committed by the Islamic State group.

Le Pen shared the gruesome images in December 2015, a few weeks after IS jihadists killed 130 people in attacks in Paris, sparking widespread condemnation in France.

The 50-year-old leader of the National Rally (formerly the National Front), who lost to Emmanuel Macron in last year's presidential vote, was stripped of her parliamentary immunity over the pictures and charged with circulating violent messages that can be viewed by minors.

On Thursday, she tweeted copies of a court order requiring her to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Dated September 11, it calls for the tests to be carried out "as soon as possible" to establish whether Le Pen "is capable of understanding remarks and answering questions".

"It's crazy," fumed Le Pen, herself a trained lawyer.

"I thought I had been through it all: well, no! For having condemned Daesh (IS) horrors in tweets, the 'justice system' is putting me through psychiatric tests! Just how far will they go?" she asked, repeating her view that it was part of a government plot to discredit her.

- 'I won't go!' -

Speaking to reporters in the halls of the National Assembly, Le Pen said she felt "persecuted" by the state and would defy the order.

"Of course I won't go and submit myself to this psychiatric evaluation," she declared, daring the investigating magistrate to "force" her.

Under French law there is no legal mechanism for forcing a person to comply with such an order.

The prosecutor's office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the court is located, said such tests...