Instead, he realised many of the countries represented had a pretty poor record of free press - and so decided to name and shame each and every one..
So here are some of the staunch defenders of the free press attending the solidarity rally in Paris today...
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 20151) 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, 20152) 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, 20153) 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, 20154) 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, 20155) Foreign Minister Lavrov of Russia, which last year jailed a journalist for "insulting a government servant" http://t.co/J4Rca9chuA
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 20156) 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, 20157) 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, 20158) 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, 20159) The PMs of Georgia and Bulgaria, both of whom have a record of attacking & beating journos http://t.co/sB0gkTtnJl http://t.co/bnvaAyic5p
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201510) The Attorney General of the US, where police in Ferguson have recently detained and assaulted WashPost reporters http://t.co/fYtWGEl3pL
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201511) Prime Minister Samaras of Greece, where riot police beat & injured two journalists at a protest in June last year http://t.co/Vr8MPsEwWR
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201512) Sec-Gen of NATO, who are yet to be held to account for deliberately bombing and killing 16 Serbian journos in '99 http://t.co/wp0mR0a52l
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201513) President Keita of Mali, where journalists are expelled for covering human rights abuses https://t.co/LByJYLfxIe
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201514) 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, 201515) 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, 201516) Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who had several journalists jailed for insulting him in 2013 http://t.co/2p0VXYB2Sd
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201517) Prime Minister Cerar of Slovenia, which sentenced a blogger to six months in prison for "defamation" in 2013 http://t.co/cBVYh4niys
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201518) Prime Minister Enda Kenny of Ireland, where "blasphemy" is considered a criminal offense http://t.co/zyJlZnAEwS
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201519) Prime Minister Kopacz of Poland, which raided a magazine to seize recordings embarrassing for the ruling party http://t.co/6asFIyiLr9
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201520) PM Cameron of the UK, where authorities destroyed documents obtained by The Guardian and threatened prosecution http://t.co/VLS13dnckJ
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 201521) 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, 2015And not forgetting..
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, 2015Safe to say Wickham's
Ok guys I think you've broken my phone now lol
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015