Activists launched a plea for solidarity with a sacked trade unionist at the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) yesterday.

The UN agency fired staff union president Moncef Kateb last month shortly before Wipo’s annual meeting, at which the victimised worker was expected to criticise director-general Francis Gurry’s management style and behaviour.

Campaign group Labour Start said that Mr Kateb, who was seen as a “troublemaker,” was also in the process of defending two former Wipo colleagues at an appeals board.

Mr Gurry is already under investigation for claims that he improperly influenced a procurement process and used Geneva police to obtain his staff’s DNA to discover who authored a letter against him.

The group ran a successful campaign last year forcing secretary-general Ban Ki Moon to grant basic International Labour Organisation rights standards to UN staff.