The Associated Press
PARIS -- A Paris court on Thursday convicted former film starlet Brigitte Bardot of inciting racial hatred for portraying Muslims in a negative light in a book, comparing them, as the court said, to "invaders, cruel and barbaric."
Bardot and her publishing house, Editions du Rocher, were fined $6,050 each. She had risked a year in jail.
Bardot, 69, a 1960s sex kitten who became an ardent animal rights campaigner, was not present for the verdict.
At a hearing in May, she told the court that she never meant to harm anyone with her book, "Un cri dans le silence" (A Cry in the Silence), published last year.
"I never knowingly wanted to hurt anybody. It is not in my character. If I did hurt someone, I'm sorry," Bardot said in May.
In her book, Bardot denounced the "infiltration" of France by Islamic extremists and criticized the ritual slaughter of sheep during Muslim religious ceremonies. She also described what she called the "Islamization of France."
Bardot had previously been found guilty on similar charges.
The court found that the actress had presented Muslims as "invaders, barbaric and cruel, responsible for terrorist acts, wishing to subdue the French people to the point of extermination."
This could lead the reader to "reject members of the Muslim community through hate and violence," the court concluded in its ruling.
The fine is to be paid to two anti-racism groups who had filed the complaint.
During her May trial, Bardot said that her book — which topped France's nonfiction best-seller list last year — was but a simple critique of the religious practices of Muslims and a denunciation of those terrorist attacks committed by Islamists.
"Among Muslims, I think there are some who are very good and some hoodlums, like everywhere," she said at the time.
