Press freedom group leader prevented from attending the UN Internet summit

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it was outraged after the Tunisian authorities turned back its Secretary General Robert Ménard on his arrival in Tunis to attend the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Plain clothes Tunisian police officers yesterday physically prevented Ménard from leaving an Air France plane after it touched down in Tunis, while another police officer filmed the incident without permission from the Air France crew. The plane?s captain told Ménard to stay on board and issued him with a return ticket on the same aircraft. Executive director of the WSIS, Charles Geiger, had said in a statement on 16 November that Robert Ménard was not welcome at the summit, although his office had given him accreditation. He referred to a claim made by the Tunisian authorities that an official complaint had been laid against Ménard in Tunisia. Geiger admitted that he had not confirmed the existence of the complaint. Moreover, the president of the Tunisian bar told RSF?s lawyer that he was unaware of any such complaint.

Meanwhile, RSF activists yesterday stuck a giant poster representing the ‘black holes in the web‘ inside the building hosting the summit. The poster illustrated the 15 ?enemies of the internet?, the countries that trample on free expression on the net. (Reporters Without Borders,November 18, 2005)

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