A mother in southern France could face years in jail and thousands of dollars in fines after she dressed her son, whose name is Jihad and whose birthday falls on Sept. 11, in a shirt that said "I am a bomb."
Bagour, 35, said in an Avignon court on March 6 that she sent her son, 3, to school wearing the shirt "without stoping to think about it," and that she did not mean to cause a stir, according to a report by the BBC. Bagour is being charged with "glorifying crime."
The long-sleeved t-shirt Jihad wore to school said "I am a bomb" on the front and "Jihad, born on September 11" on the back. You can see a photo of Jihad's T-shirt at the Morocco News Tribune.
The Arabic word "jihad" literally means "struggle" or "effort" in English.
The t-shirt was reportedly a present from Bagour's brother, Zeyad Bagour, 29, who is facing the same stiff penalties in court as Bagour, according to Agence France-Presse.
AFP goes on to report that Bagour and her brother could face up to five years in jail and fines of as much as 45,000 euros ($57,000); however, Sky News says the prosecutor only asked for a fine of 1,000 euros ($1,300) for Bagour and 3,000 euros ($3,900) for her brother.
France has enacted a number of laws prohibiting hateful speech, selling Nazi paraphernalia, denying that the Holocaust happened and other potentially offensive practices or actions.
In February, a French judge ordered Twitter to turn in users who made anti-Semitic remarks on the site. In 2011, prominent fashion designer John Galliano was found guilty of hate speech by a French court and ordered to pay over $8,000 in fines after he was filmed making anti-Semitic remarks in a restaurant.
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