French comedian Dieudonné sentenced for anti-Semitism again

Controversial French comedian Dieudonné added another conviction for hate speech to his long list of them, as a Belgian court sentenced him to two months in jail. A Liege court also fined him €9,000 (£6,300,$9,500) over racist and anti-Semitic remarks he made during a show in the city in 2012.

Judges found that comments he made in March that year on Jews, homosexuals and disabled people were consistent with incitement to hatred, hate speech and Holocaust denial. The sentence was welcomed by the local Jewish community. Eric Lemmens, a lawyer for Belgium's Jewish organisations, told AFP the verdict was "more than satisfying". "This is a major victory," he said.

The comedian, whose full name is Dieudonné M'Bala M'bala, is not new to this type of accusation. During his two-decade-long stage career he has collected seven convictions for hate speech, running up more than €65,000 in related fines. In 2014, the French government moved to block his national tour over the alleged anti-Semitic contents of his show.

Earlier this month, the European Court of Human Rights rejected his appeal over a 2009 French sentence, which Dieudonné claimed was in breach of his right to freedom of speech. The Strasbourg-based court said the incriminated show, where Holocaust-denying French academic Robert Faurisson was invited on stage, was "unmistakably negationist and anti-Semitic in nature".