A UN official has warned France about punishing women for stating safety concerns about men in women’s spaces.

The moves comes after a Paris court fined a female French journalist for criticising the placement of biologically male, transgender inmates in female prisons.

Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said on October 2 that she was seriously concerned by the conviction and by other proceedings linked to the journalist’s statements on sex and gender.

“As women, saying that we need to exercise caution around men, particularly where there are reasons to fear for our safety, does not in itself constitute hate speech,” Alsalem said.

Women “should not be sanctioned for expressing concerns about their own safety or that of other women and girls”.

The French Government has not yet replied in public.