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Marine Le Pen furious after being ordered to undergo psychiatric testing for tweets. Here's why.
French National Rally President Marine Le Pen said she will refuse to have the psychiatric testing after tweeting gruesome images from the terrorist group Islamic State. (Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)

Marine Le Pen furious after being ordered to undergo psychiatric testing for tweets. Here's why.

French politician Marine Le Pen is under a court order to receive a psychiatric examination for tweeting gruesome images from the terrorist group Islamic State.

The exam will determine if Le Pen "is capable of understanding remarks and answering questions,” the website The Local reported.

Magistrates in Nanterre near Paris apparently gave the directive for Le Pen to visit a psychiatrist for an expert assessment, according to The Local. The order was dated Sept. 11 and came from the district court in Nanterre.

Le Pen, who leads the former National Front Party and now called the National Rally, expressed her outrage on Twitter.

"I thought I had been through it all: well, no! For denouncing the horrors of Daesh (Isis) by tweets the 'justice system' has referred me for a psychiatric assessment. How far will they go?!" she wrote.

Is she refusing the testing?

Le Pen, 50, said she will refuse to have the psychiatric testing.

"Of course, I will not go to this psychiatric assessment and I will wait to see how the magistrate intends to force me," she reportedly told BFM TV.

In March, Le Pen was charged with distributing "violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity" and that can be viewed by a minor. The crime carries a prison term of up to three years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros ($91,000), according to the report.

The images showed the bodies of people who were executed by the Islamic State and included the decapitated body of U.S. reporter James Foley. Le Pen posted the pictures a few weeks after the Paris terror attacks in 2015.

Le Pen suggested the case is part of a government scheme to discredit her. She tweeted the order, stating: "It's really incredible. This regime is really starting to worry me.”

The order states the tests should be carried out “as soon as possible,” to determine if Le Pen "is capable of understanding remarks and answering questions."

Is this standard procedure?

Experts have told the French media that psychiatric tests are common for people facing charges like Le Pen’s. They say it is not singling her out.

"The argument that this is harassment by the judiciary does not hold water. She is a political personality but this is not a political decision,” Jacky Coulon, national secretary of the magistrates union, reportedly told France Info radio.

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