Reporters Without Borders today protested against the
detention of six French journalists on arrival a week ago
at Los Angeles international airport to cover a video games
trade show and their forcible repatriation after being held
at the airport for more than 24 hours.
"These journalists were treated like criminals - subjected
to several body searches, handcuffed, locked up and
fingerprinted," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general
Robert M¨¦nard complained in a letter to the US ambassador
to Paris, Howard Leach.
M¨¦nard urged the ambassador to press for an investigation
and to ensure that the journalists will have no problems
the next time they travel to the United States. He also
suggested that it should be clarified whether or not
journalists travelling to the United States need a specific
press visa. "As things stand, the decisions taken by
airport security officials appear to have been arbitrary if
not discriminatory," M¨¦nard said in his letter.
The six journalists arrived at Los Angeles airport in two
groups a day apart. The first group consisted of Alexandre
Alfonsi of T¨¦l¨¦ 7 Jours, St¨¦phanie Pic of T¨¦l¨¦ Poche and
Michel Perrot of TV Hebdo, who arrived at 2 p.m. on 10 May
without press visas. Pic and Perrot passed through
immigration without any problem, but Alfonsi was denied
access to US territory on the grounds that he lacked the
required visa.
Pic and Perrot tried in vain to find out from airport
officials what had happened to their colleague. All three
journalists were then detained and held for a total of 26
hours, which included a night in the cells of a US
immigration detention centre.
They were subjected to interrogation sessions and six body
searches. They were handcuffed while being moved from one
place to another, and they were fingerprinted. One official
told Alfonsi he would not be able to return to the United
States again. They were put on a flight for France at
around 4 p.m. the next day and were not able to recover
their passports until the aeroplane made a stopover in
Amsterdam.
The other group, which suffered an almost identical fate,
consisted of Thierry Falcoz, editor in chief of Game One
cable television, and two of his cameramen, Laurent
Patureau and Alex Gorsky. They arrived at Los Angeles
international airport at around 3 p.m. on 11 May. Falcoz
and Gorsky passed through immigration without a problem but
Patureau was stopped by an official who said he needed a
press visa.
When Patureau's two colleagues protested, all three were
detained. After being held for nine hours in an airport
waiting room they were taken to a US immigration detention
centre where they were held overnight in a cell. They were
subjected to repeated body searches and interrogation. They
were handcuffed when taken from one place to another, and
they were fingerprinted. Finally, they were put on a flight
back to France at around 6 p.m. the next day.
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