A French court on Tuesday acquitted the far-right leader Marine Le Pen of charges that she incited religious hatred against Muslims with comments made in 2010, reports The New York Times.
Ms. Le Pen, now the president of the National Front party, was on trial for comparing Muslims praying in the street to the German occupation of France during World War II at a rally in Lyon, comments that prompted anti-racism and Muslim-rights groups to file complaints.
She was facing a fine of 45,000 euros, or about $50,000, and a sentence of up to a year in prison.
But judges in Lyon, in southeastern France, followed the state prosecutor’s recommendation that Ms. Le Pen be acquitted of charges of “inciting discrimination, violence or hatred toward a group of people based on their religious beliefs.”
During the trial held in October, the state prosecutor, Bernard Reynaud, argued that Ms. Le Pen was only exercising her right to free speech because she was not targeting all Muslims in France, only a portion of them.
Ms. Le Pen reacted to the ruling with a post on her official Twitter account. “Five years of aspersions, one acquittal… And now how many slanderers will apologize?” she wrote.
Ms. Le Pen was campaigning for control of the National Front when she made the comments about Muslims praying in the streets, which was mostly the result of insufficient mosque space, at the 2010 rally in Lyon.