On Sunday, millions of people marched through Paris in a dramatic display of solidarity after extremists killed 12 people at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and four at a kosher grocery.
It was a remarkable rally, and particularly striking was the number of world leaders present. More than 50 nations from all corners of the world were represented. “Charlie, Charlie, freedom of speech!” became the cry of the day.
Despite the laudable show of unity, however, many observers couldn’t help but bristle at the hypocritical presence of some world leaders. Although they were publicly lending their support to free speech at the rally in France, at home they often stifled that very same free speech.
Reporters Without Borders (RWB), a non-profit organisation that supports free speech, said it was “outraged by the presence of officials from countries that restrict freedom of information”.
In particular, RWB took issue with the presence of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Gabonese President Ali Bongo.
These nations scored particularly low on RWB’s annual press freedom index. Egypt is ranked 159th out of 180 countries in the index, Turkey 154th, Russia 148th, Algeria 121st, the United Arab Emirates 118th and Gabon 98th.
Below are just a few of the criticisms levelled against the nations.
Last year, an Egyptian court sentenced three Al Jazeera journalists to between seven and 10 years in jail on “terrorism” charges.
Turkey, which was named the world’s biggest jailor of journalists in 2012 and 2013, ended 2014 by detaining a number of journalists (including Ekrem Dumanli, editor-in-chief of Zaman, a leading newspaper with links to the moderate Islamic Gulen movement).
In Russia, anti-corruption blogger and political activist Alexei Navalny has become a frequent target for the government, and the few remaining independent news outlets are struggling mightily to survive.
While freedom of speech is enshrined in the Algerian Constitution, between 1992 and 2011 the government declared a state of emergency that seriously curtailed the right. RWB noted that a number of journalists were arrested before last year’s election.
Groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have claimed that freedom of speech is severely restricted in the United Arab Emirates. Amnesty says that more than 100 peaceful activists and government critics have been detained there since 2011.
Investigative journalist Jonas Moulenda has been forced to flee Gabon because of death threats.
There were even more guests deemed unsuitable. French newspaper Le Monde pointed to the presence of Hungary’s Viktor Orban, the leader of a country that recently proposed taxing the Internet, and Naftali Bennett, Israel’s economy minister, who was once quoted as saying “I’ve killed many Arabs in my life, and there’s no problem with that.”
On Twitter, there was anger at reports that Saudi officials had attended the march, just days after Saudi Arabia flogged a blogger for blasphemy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, were prominently featured forming a line along with French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada website and author of the book One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, recently wrote “the Committee to Protect Journalists puts the number of Palestinian reporters and media workers killed during the Israeli assault on Gaza (last year) at least 15.”