France

The expanded emergency powers allow the government to impose house arrest without authorization from a judge, conduct searches without a judicial warrant and seize any computer files it finds, and block websites deemed to glorify terrorism without prior judicial authorization.

The introduction of this law only two months after the Charlie Hebdo tragedy is seen as an attempt to broaden surveillance powers under the guise of preventing terrorism.

Free expression advocates worldwide condemn the 7 January attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Several organisations have published cartoons from the publication in solidarity.

Violence against journalists is becoming more and more common at all kinds of demonstrations in France, including the “Manif pour Tous” protests against same-sex marriage and the recent protests against the proposed Sivens Dam in the southern department of Tarn.

The bill would allow the government to ban French nationals from leaving the country on very broad grounds that could breach their right to free movement under international human rights law.

French hacker Grégory Chelli has been using extraordinarily aggressive methods to harass Benoît le Corre, a journalist with the French news website Rue89, ever since the site published Le Corre’s profile of Chelli on 29 July.

A decision by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights sacrifices the expression rights of a minority for the comfort of the majority, setting a worrying precedent for the rights of all people in Europe.

Reporters Without Borders is alarmed by the extensive provisions for electronic snooping in the Military Programming Law that was passed by the French Senate on 10 December, after previously being approved by the National Assembly.

A far-right magazine recently put France’s black justice minister Christiane Taubira on its cover, comparing her to a monkey. The storm of indignation that followed gave unexpected visibility to the magazine and members of the government expressed their desire to sue the magazine or to block the distribution of the infamous issue.

Freedom of expression is generally protected in France, although is limited by strict defamation and privacy laws. The country also has some of the toughest hate speech laws in the EU.

ARTICLE 19 has submitted a document to the European Court of Human Rights stating that general prohibitions on the full-face veil are not in line with international standards on the right to freedom of expression or freedom of religion.

On 26 June 2013, the Paris Court of Appeals ruled that Phillippe Karsenty, founder of the Media Rating website, was guilty of defamation for accusing Charles Enderlin, Jerusalem correspondent for French public broadcaster France 2, of staging TV footage about the killing of Mohammed Al Dura, a Palestinian boy who was reportedly shot dead by Israeli forces in Gaza on 30 September 2000.

Police indicated that Georges Henry Honorat was slain in a drive-by shooting at his house in the Delmas district in Port-au-Prince. Reports say that two masked hit men opened fire on the journalist while passing his house on a motorbike.

Police indicated that Georges Henry Honorat was slain in a drive-by shooting at his house in the Delmas district in Port-au-Prince. Reports say that two masked hit men opened fire on the journalist while passing his house on a motorbike.

The French and Malian authorities are preventing journalists from getting within 100 km of areas where military operations are under way. It is particularly difficult to find out what is happening in the embattled city of Gao, where phone networks have been down since the start of the week, preventing any contact with local residents, journalists or anyone else.

Reporters Without Borders has filed a complaint regarding acts of piracy against Radio Erena, an Eritrean exile radio station based in Paris.