France: Bouchra Bagour Sentenced for Toddler's '9/11 Jihad I am a Bomb' T-Shirt

A woman was given a suspended sentence by a French court for sending her three-year-old son out in a T-shirt bearing the slogan, "I am a bomb, Jihad, born on September 11".

Bouchra Bagour, 35, was initially acquitted of defending terrorism but the verdict was reversed on appeal.

Bagour defended the T-shirt by saying that there was no intended connection between its message and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in which almost 3,000 people died.

She told the court that she simply wanted to celebrate the birth of her son, Jihad.

An appeal court in the city of Nimes gave her a one-month suspended prison sentence and fined her €2,000 (£1,600).

Bagour's brother, Zeyad, who had given her son the shirt, was fined €4,000 and given a two-month suspended prison sentence.

According to The Local, the counsel for the prosecution said: "We have to rule that they [the mother and uncle] knew of the provocative nature of the T-shirt."

Make people laugh

Bagour continued to insist that her son's shirt was a joke that was not meant to offend anyone.

Her brother said: "We were never trying to claim responsibility for this thing or defend a cause. I had no intention of being provocative or shocking people. For me the words 'I am a bomb' mean 'I am beautiful'."

She added: "The text is simply my son's name and his date of birth. It's a bit different but I thought it would make people laugh. My brother gave my son the shirt, I put it on him, and I never thought anything of it."

Their lawyer said his clients might appeal to the Supreme Court against the "harsh" sentence.