European Parliament voted on Tuesday to strip far-right lawmaker Marine Le Pen of her legal immunity so she can be prosecuted in her native France over anti-Muslim remarks she made in 2010.

The European Parliament voted on Tuesday to strip far-right lawmaker Marine Le Pen of her legal immunity so she can be prosecuted in her native France over anti-Muslim remarks she made in 2010.

Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front party and a member of the European Parliament, faces charges of inciting racial hatred for a comment comparing Muslims praying in the street to the Nazi German occupation of Paris during World War II.

"For those who like to talk about World War II, to talk about occupation, we could talk about, for once, the occupation of our territory," she said. "There are no armoured vehicles, no soldiers, but it is an occupation all the same and it weighs on people."

The remark led to protests at a Paris mosque, where people had been praying outside due to overcrowding. The conservative government of the day later banned Muslims from praying in the street, after helping to accommodate the overflow.

Prosecutors in Lyon, south-eastern France, want Le Pen to answer the charge of inciting racial hatred, but have been unable to summon her because of the immunity from prosecution she enjoys as an MEP, a position she has held since 2004.

Tuesday’s vote follows a secret ballot by the European Parliament’s Judicial Affairs Committee on June 19 which backed the recommendation to remove her immunity.

On Monday, Le Pen repeated her 2010 comment, shrugging off the threat of a court case.

“I will go to court with my head held high to explain that there have to be people in this country who tell the French the truth,” she told LCI television, arguing she was being pursued for a “thought crime.”

If found guilty, she risks a year in prison and a possible 45,000 euros (59,000 dollars) in fines. A conviction for inciting racial hatred would also damage her strategy to rid the National Front of racist associations.

Le Pen is not aligned with any political group in the parliament.

Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie, who founded and led the FN until succeeded by his daughter in 2010, was stripped of his immunity as an MEP, and was subsequently prosecuted for commenting that the Holocaust was “a mere detail” of the Second World War.