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This is an archive article published on September 20, 2013

Mother gets suspended jail term for son’s ‘Jihad’ t-shirt in France

Prosecutors argued that she should be punished for 'defending the terrorist attack'.

A French mother who sent her three-year-old son to school in a T-shirt reading “I am a bomb” and “Jihad,born on September 11” was given a suspended prison term on Friday for defending the crime.

Bouchra Bagour said she had simply wanted to mark the birthday of her son — who is named Jihad and was born on September 11 — and had not intended any connection with the 9/11 attacks in the United States in 2001.

She was acquitted in April by another court on charges of defending terrorism,but prosecutors had appealed the decision.

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On Friday,an appeal court in the southern city of Nimes reversed the ruling,fining Bagour 2,000 euros (USD 2,700) and giving her a suspended one-month jail term.

Her brother Zeyad,who gave his nephew the T-shirt,was fined 4,000 euros and given a two-month suspended prison sentence.

Bagour,35 at the time of the first ruling,had admitted to court that sending her child to school wearing the T-shirt had been “tactless”,but insisted it was not meant as a provocation.

Her brother Zeyad,29 at the time,told the court: “We were never trying to claim responsibility for this thing or defend a cause.”

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The lawyer for the pair said Friday the decision was “harsh and surprising”,adding that she would consider sending the case to the Paris-based Supreme Court for final arbitration.

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