As
UAE
Prosecutes
Online
Critics, Ban
Does Not Raise
to FM, Instead
Syria &
Iran
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 4 --
Amid
crackdowns
throughout
Middle East on
not
only physical
but also
intellectual
opposition, UN
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon
seems to focus
on the former.
On
November
3,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's Deputy
Spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey
Inner
City
Press: In the
UAE there is a
trial of five
on-line
activists.
They have been
put on trial
in what's
called the UAE
five case for
insulting UAE
Government
officials in
an on-line
forum, and
Amnesty
International
and a variety
of groups have
said that the
trial is a
travesty and
that
international
organizations
should speak
against
it. I am
wondering if
anyone in the
UN system is
observing that
trial, do you
have any
statement on
the UAE
putting
essentially
bloggers on
trial for
their speech.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
No, we have no
statement on
that yet. If
we have
anything, we
will let you
know.
While
Ban's
Spokesperson
has yet to
issue any
statement on
the UAE's
so-called
"Franz Kafka"
blogger trial,
the Office did
put out a
read-out of
Ban's meeting
on the
sidelines of
the G-20
meetings in
Cannes with
the UAE's
foreign
minister
Sheikh
Abdullah Bin
Zayed Al
Nahya, with no
mention of the
trail or
crackdowns by
the UAE.
Instead, Ban
says he
discussed
Syria and
"they also
discussed
the situation
in Iran." What
about the
situation in
the UAE?
(c) UN Photo
Ban
& FM of
UAE on Nov 3,
crackdown on
online critics
not shown or
discussed?
Inner
City Press
also
asked
about Ban's
whirlwind stop
off in Libya
on his way to
the
G-20 meeting
in Cannes:
Inner
City
Press:
Yesterday I
asked you,
maybe you have
an answer now,
when
the
Secretary-General
flew to Libya
-- he has now
left so there
is no
security
concerns -- on
whose aircraft
did he fly?
Did he fly
commercial?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
He flew, he
and the
delegation
flew from here
to
Frankfurt on
commercial
aircraft, and
then from
Frankfurt to
Libya on
a UN-chartered
aircraft; and
then from
Libya to Nice
on a
UN-chartered
aircraft.
Inner
City
Press: just
contracted
out, paid?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
To the best of
my knowledge,
yes... A
UN-chartered
aircraft.
There
are mounting
questions
about the
costs and
manner of Ban
Ki-moon's
travels. Watch
this site.
, 
