They Are Not Charlie: They Torture, Jail and Kill Journalists in Their Own Countries  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

2 million people arrived in Paris for the Marche Republicaine organized by the French government against the terrorism due to the double attack of Wednesday and Thursday. 17 people and 3 terrorists died. Photograph by Matteo Pellegrinuzzi. Copyright: Demotix
World leaders and politicians, particularly those from the Middle East and North Africa, came under fire for their double standards in supporting freedom of speech in France, while stifling freedoms and killing and jailing journalists in their own countries.
More than 40 world leaders and top officials and politicians from around the world joined about 1.6 million people as they marched in Paris today [January 11] to denounce the terror attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. The attacks, over three days, have left 17 people dead in France, including cartoonists and police officers. More than 3.7m people are estimated to have marched across the country today, making the rallies the largest in the nation's history. Similar but smaller solidarity gatherings were held in Cairo, Beirut, New York and Madrid, to name a few, in support of freedom of expression.
Beirut #Lebanon , 1st Arab city to hold #JeSuisCharlie gathering today. Photos emerging on Twitter at Samir Kassir sq pic.twitter.com/wE3rO7OW6G
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) January 11, 2015
The presence of world leaders at the forefront of the Paris rally, which began at the Place de la Republique and ended at the Place de la Nation, in which marchers chanted liberte [freedom] and Charlie, drew much criticism on social media, especially since some of those leaders were among the world's worst free speech offenders.
Egyptian writer Mohamed El Dahshan tweets his objection to his 44.7K followers on Twitter:
The presence of Israeli & Bahraini leaders at an “anti-terrorism” demo makes it largely meaningless.State terrorism must be rejected! #Paris
— Mohamed El Dahshan (@eldahshan) January 11, 2015
Spaniard David Karvala notes:
Paris protesta contra el terror que mató a 17 inocentes de la mano de Netanyahu, que mata a miles. #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/9KQtcRkKha
— #StopIslamofobia (@davidkarvala) January 11, 2015
Paris protests against the attack that killed 17 innocent people holding hands with Netanyahu, who kills thousands
Freedom Prayers, from Bahrain, reminds readers of what awaits protesters at home:
#Bahrain officials who show support to #CharlieHebdo today only have this for free speech seekers at home: pic.twitter.com/T2AultiBq3
— Free Shawqi Radhi (@FreedomPrayers) January 11, 2015
#Bahrain officials walk for #CharlieHebdo in Paris but shoot ppl at home for speaking up pic.twitter.com/59QgYUaZVf
— Free Shawqi Radhi (@FreedomPrayers) January 11, 2015
And Dima Eleiwa, from Gaza, Palestine, explains:
مسيرة اليوم بينحكى عليها قصص خيالية بكرا لـ اولادنا. الارهابيين واللي بيقمعوا حرية التعبير طلعوا مسيرة ضد الارهاب والدفاع عن حرية التعبير.
— Dima Eleiwa (@DimaEleiwa) January 11, 2015
We will be telling our children mind-boggling stories about today's rally. Terrorists and those suppressing freedom of speech took part in a rally against terrorism and in support of freedom of speech!
Reporters without Borders described world leaders at the event as “predators,” whose presence was appalling. It issued a statement saying:
On what grounds are representatives of regimes that are predators of press freedom coming to Paris to pay tribute to Charlie Hebdo, a publication that has always defended the most radical concept of freedom of expression?
Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the presence of leaders from countries where journalists and bloggers are systematically persecuted such as Egypt (which is ranked 159th out of 180 countries in RWB’s press freedom index), Russia (148th), Turkey (154th) and United Arab Emirates (118th).
Even before the rally started, Palestinian Yousef Munayyer tweets to his 22.2K followers:
This Paris rally is shaping up to be a who's who of world leaders who have suppressed their own journalists
— Yousef Munayyer (@YousefMunayyer) January 11, 2015
UK-based blogger Daniel Wickham does his homework and shares an impressive list of the ‘offenders’ at the rally:
So here are some of the staunch defenders of the free press attending the solidarity rally in Paris today…
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
Among them are:
1) 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, 2015
2) 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, 2015
3) 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, 2015
4) 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, 2015
6) 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, 2015
7) 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, 2015
8) 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, 2015
14) 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, 2015
15) 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, 2015
16) Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who had several journalists jailed for insulting him in 2013 http://t.co/2p0VXYB2Sd
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
21) 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
Wickham also reserves two special mentions for offenders not invited to the parade:
Oh, and President Assad condemned the Charlie Hebdo attack too. Don't think this one really needs any more comment tbh.
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
More hypocrisy: Hamas condemns Charlie Hebdo attack http://t.co/MtQ7Mn63mt yet they beat up journos in Gaza and endorsed synagogue massacre.
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
For a full list of “predators” check out this Storify link, compiled by Tom Etty.
Iyad El-Baghdadi, who was jailed and exiled from the UAE, found a few more punchlines to add to his Arab Tyrants Manual, which he started writing after the start of the so-called Arab Spring. Among them is:
Attend a peace rally to denounce terrorism, then go back home to oppress some people in the name of fighting terrorism. #ArabTyrantManual
— Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) January 11, 2015
Turkish Zeynep Tufekci reminds us of how world leaders only put their interests ahead of issues they pay lip service to, like freedom of speech:
Today Western leaders march for “free speech”. Tomorrow, they cut deals with those who flog Saudi blogger Raif Badawi for “insulting Islam.”
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) January 11, 2015
She further explains her point:
Muslim world is not lacking for heroes who battle for free speech. It does lack support from the West more interested in selling arms & oil.
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) January 11, 2015
And there was sarcasm shared too. Giray Ozil tweets:
All eyes looking for Kim Jong-un at the freedom of speech rally in Paris. Everyone else is there.
— Giray Özil (@girayozil) January 11, 2015
Palestinian Ali Abunimah tells his 57.7K followers:
Jordan's King & Queen went to Paris, but not Gaza. This must mean Jordan thinks what happened in Paris is far worse than bloodbath in Gaza.
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) January 11, 2015
Syrian Rafif Jouejati ponders:
Maybe #Assad will decree a #JeSuisCharlie march in #Syria
— Rafif Jouejati (@RafifJ) January 11, 2015
And Egyptian Guebara sarcastically notes:
ابو بكر البغدادي يشارك في مسيرة باريس ضد الارهاب
— Guebara – جيبارا (@Gue3bara) January 11, 2015
Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi is taking part in the Paris rally against terrorism
According to the Washington Post, a seven-minute video emerged today in which one of the gunmen who attacked the kosher supermarket posthumously claimed the IS's responsibility for the attack. In the video, Amedy Coulibaly pledges allegiance to the IS leader Al Baghdadi.