French ministers denied Tunisia was a dictatorship and offered Ben Ali’s regime police support to deal with the recent protests. Myriam Francois-Cerrah explains how France found itself on the backfoot
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A convicted sex offender has sued Google after he found that an instant search of his name on Google.fr was accompanied with the words “rapist”, “Satanist”, “convicted” and “prison”. A court in Paris has ordered the internet giant to pay 5,000 euros and remove the search suggestions, which are generated automatically. The plaintiff, who is appealing against a three-month sentence for corruption of a minor, believed the search results were harmful to his reputation. Google has said it will appeal the decision.
Bertrand Delanoé, the mayor of Paris, yesterday called for the Iranian authorities to spare the life of Hossein Derakhshan. In a press release, the mayor described Derakhshan as “ friend of France and Paris” and appealed for help to “save this honourable, courageous and dignified life”. Delanoé’s words will add to the growing calls in support of Derakhshan. His girlfriend Sandria Murcia has released a statement encouraging the “global community to help”.
A Paris court has fined the France 24 news channel for repeating rumours that first lady Carla Bruni was having an affair with a French pop singer. Judges ordered the publicly-funded channel to pay 3,000 euros to the singer in question, Benjamin Biolay, following a ruling that the coverage violated his privacy. On April 6, it was reported that President Sarkozy has ordered a “campaign of terror” to punish those responsible for rumours which circulated last month on supposed extra-marital affairs by the French first couple reported in Britain and Switzerland. Lawyers for France 24 argued that it that exceptional level of international coverage made it a legitimate story to include in their press review. The court rejected this defence.