Paris - The one-time sex symbol of French cinema, Brigitte Bardot, has been convicted of incitement to racism against France's Muslim population, French radio reported Tuesday.

A Paris court fined the 73-year-old Bardot 15,000 euros (23,300 dollars) for statements she had made in a letter she wrote to President Nicolas Sarkozy in December 2006, when he was interior minister, regarding the Muslim feast of Aid el-Kebir.

In that letter, which was published in the publication of her animal rights foundation, Bardot wrote: "We have had enough of being led around by the nose by this population that is destroying us, destroying our nation by imposing its acts."

In the letter, she demanded that all the animals slaughtered for the feast of Aid el-Kebir be stunned before they are killed.

It was Bardot's fifth conviction on similar charges since 1997. Since leaving the cinema and turning into a fiery animal rights activist, she has become known as a supporter of the xenophobic founder of the anti-immigration National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen. (dpa)