'Quenelle' comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala may face prosecution over sketch about Isis executions

The anti-Semitic French comedian came to international attention in December when the footballer Nicolas Anelka performed Dieudonné’s trademark gesture, the quenelle

French humorist Dieudonne Mbala Mbala arrives for a trial at the Paris courthouse in December (AFP)

The anti-Semitic French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala faces possible prosecution after posting a sketch on the internet justifying the execution of American journalists by Isis.

In his sketch the comedian says that beheading has always been a “gateway to civilisation” and compares Isis executions to the guillotining of royalty and aristocrats during the French Revolution. He says that Western media made no fuss about the execution of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein or the Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

A preliminary investigation has been started by the French state prosecution service for alleged “justification of terrorism”.

More than 100 other video sketches by Dieudonné have been removed from YouTube in the past few days.

The comedian came to international attention in December when the footballer Nicolas Anelka performed Dieudonné’s trademark gesture, the quenelle, after scoring a goal for West Bromwich Albion in a Premier League football match. Opponents say that the gesture is an obscene form of the Nazi salute.

Dieudonné has several convictions in France for incitement to anti-Semitism and mocking the Holocaust. He also faces possible prosecution for tax avoidance and money laundering.