A prominent German MP is facing a criminal investigation over a tweet in which she described Muslims as “barbarian, gang-raping hordes”.

Beatrix von Storch of the nationalist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) accused police in Cologne of seeking to “appease” Muslim migrants after they tweeted a New Year message in Arabic.

“What the hell is going on in this country? Why is an official police site tweeting in Arabic? Are they trying to appease the barbarian, Muslim, gang-raping male hordes?” Ms von Storch wrote. Her account was subsequently suspended.

The politician is being investigated under Germany’s strict hate speech laws and could face up to five years in prison if charged and found guilty.

Cologne police said their New Year message contained a link to important public safety information and had been tweeted in several languages in order to reach as wide an audience as possible. In addition to German, it was tweeted in English, French and Arabic.