The News Minute | January 14, 2015 | 2:00 pm IST
The streets of various cities across France saw around 3.7 million people take to the streets to rally in favour of free speech in wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks that occurred on Wednesday.
More than 40 world leaders also joined the start of the Paris march, linking arms in an act of solidarity.
However, Reporters Without Borders pointed out that they were "appalled by the presence of leaders from countries where journalists and bloggers are systematically persecuted such as Egypt, Russia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates with their policies at home far from compatible with the solidarity for free speech on display throughout France."
They added that "It would be unacceptable if representatives of countries that silence journalists were to take advantage of the current outpouring of emotion to try to improve their international image and then continue their repressive policies when they return home"
Daniel Wickham, a student at the London School for Economics Middle East Society in a series of 21 tweets, further supported the RWB statement and pointed out why the leaders weren't exactly the ideal people to be leading the march.
So here are some of the staunch defenders of the free press attending the solidarity rally in Paris today...
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 20151) King Abdullah of Jordan, which last year sentenced a Palestinian journalist to 15 years in prison with hard labour http://t.co/giZg7JounI
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 20152) Prime Minister of Davutoglu of Turkey, which imprisons more journalists than any other country in the world http://t.co/sLCJaZprex
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 20153) Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, whose forced killed 7 journalists in Gaza last yr (second highest after Syria) http://t.co/w74zqVHZf9
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 20154) Foreign Minister Shoukry of Egypt, which as well as AJ staff has detained journalist Shawkan for around 500 days http://t.co/xzVRgmkM1g
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 20155) Foreign Minister Lavrov of Russia, which last year jailed a journalist for "insulting a government servant" http://t.co/J4Rca9chuA
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 20156) Foreign Minister Lamamra of Algeria, which has detained journalist Abdessami Abdelhai for 15 months without charge http://t.co/KlDiwKibzL
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 20157) The Foreign Minister of the UAE, which in 2013 held a journo incommunicado for a month on suspicion of MB links https://t.co/15ESrDu1kh
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 20158) Prime Minister Jomaa of Tunisia, which recently jailed blogger Yassine Ayan for 3 years for "defaming the army" http://t.co/8fwfVHq8VK
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 20159) The PMs of Georgia and Bulgaria, both of whom have a record of attacking & beating journos http://t.co/sB0gkTtnJl http://t.co/bnvaAyic5p
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201510) The Attorney General of the US, where police in Ferguson have recently detained and assaulted WashPost reporters http://t.co/fYtWGEl3pL
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201511) Prime Minister Samaras of Greece, where riot police beat & injured two journalists at a protest in June last year http://t.co/Vr8MPsEwWR
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201512) Sec-Gen of NATO, who are yet to be held to account for deliberately bombing and killing 16 Serbian journos in '99 http://t.co/wp0mR0a52l
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201513) President Keita of Mali, where journalists are expelled for covering human rights abuses https://t.co/LByJYLfxIe
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201514) The Foreign Minister of Bahrain, 2nd biggest jailer of journos in the world per capita (they also torture them) http://t.co/HX6Q3Ia3lG
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201515) Sheikh Mohamed Ben Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar, which jailed a man for 15 ys for writing the Jasmine poem http://t.co/8s1N0wcPC6
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201516) Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who had several journalists jailed for insulting him in 2013 http://t.co/2p0VXYB2Sd
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201517) Prime Minister Cerar of Slovenia, which sentenced a blogger to six months in prison for "defamation" in 2013 http://t.co/cBVYh4niys
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201518) Prime Minister Enda Kenny of Ireland, where "blasphemy" is considered a criminal offense http://t.co/zyJlZnAEwS
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201519) Prime Minister Kopacz of Poland, which raided a magazine to seize recordings embarrassing for the ruling party http://t.co/6asFIyiLr9
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201520) PM Cameron of the UK, where authorities destroyed documents obtained by The Guardian and threatened prosecution http://t.co/VLS13dnckJ
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201521) Saudi ambassador to France. The Saudis publicly flogged blogger @raif_badawi for "insulting Islam" on Friday http://t.co/ZTlPCGa6u5
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015