Marine Le Pen Suggests French Hostages Had Homeland-style Radicalisation

French hostages: Pierre Legrand, Thierry Dol, Daniel Larribe

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Le Pen mocked for suggesting four hostages released after years in Niger have been through Homeland-style radicalisation

Far-Right leader Marine Le Pen has sparked outrage by hinting that four French hostages who were kidnapped by Islamic militants may have radicalised because they returned home with “strange” beards.

Thierry Dol, Daniel Larribe, Pierre Legrand and Marc Féret were given a heroes’ welcome when they returned to France on Wednesday after a three year ordeal at the hands of al Qaeda-linked militants in Africa’s desert Sahel region.

President François Hollande personally greeted the four men, kidnapped in Niger in 2010, as they arrived at Villacoublay military airfield near Paris.

Visibly uneasy with the intense media attention, none of the four men wanted to speak after Mr Hollande addressed journalists on the tarmac.

Given this, Miss Le Pen struck a different tone by appearing to imply that she feared the men may have become radicalised by their captors while in Africa. The Front National leader, known for her virulent campaigns against immigration and the “Islamisation” of France said their appearance was “troubling”. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Thursday, October 31, 2013