In
Egypt As
Opposition's
al-Kassas Gets
Disappeared,
UN Amina J.
Mohammed
Silent Like
Akhbar al Yom
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Vine,
Periscope
UNITED NATIONS,
February 10 – In
Egypt, after
Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi
announced
he'll "run"
for president
after ensuring
others will
not, the
detention of
at least 18
people has
been
classified as
arbitrary by
the UN Working
Group on
Arbitrary
Detention, here.
Now, still
without a word
from UN Deputy
Secretary
General Amina
J. Mohammed
who visited
Cairo and
praised the
government,
like
UN-favored
Egyptian state
media Akhbar
al Yom, this
from Amnesty
International:
"Responding to
last night’s
raid by
security
forces at the
house of
Mohamed
al-Kassas -
deputy head of
Egyptian
opposition
party Misr
al-Qawia - and
the lack of
information
about his
current
whereabouts,
Amnesty
International’s
North Africa
Campaigns
Director,
Najia Bounaim,
said: 'Given
the track
record of the
Egyptian
authorities
and their
continued use
of enforced
disappearances
to stifle
dissent, we
are deeply
concerned that
Mohamed
al-Kassas
might have
been forcibly
disappeared
and subjected
to torture.
The
authorities
must disclose
any
information
they have
about the
whereabouts of
Mohamed
al-Kassas and
release him
immediately if
he is in state
custody.' This
is the third
enforced
disappearance
in Egypt
confirmed by
Amnesty this
week. On
Monday,
journalist
Mustafa
al-Assar and
his roommate -
activist
Hassan
al-Banna
Mubarak - were
last seen on
their way to
work in Giza.
Their current
fate and
whereabouts
remains
unknown."
Inside the UN,
the Department
of Public
Information
under Alison
Smale purports
to give the
long time work
space of
investigative
Inner City
Press to
Sisi's state
media Akhbar
al Yom, silent
on the
disappearance.
But Akhbar al
Youm's
essentially
retired
correspondent
Sanaa Youssef
has not asked
a question at
the UN in a
decade. On
February 9,
when Inner
City Press
asked, DPI
apparently
made a point
of encouraging
the retiree to
come in,
simply to
maintain the
charade. This
UN is
corrupt...
How
far will
today's UN go
to placate
some
countries,
while ignoring
others and restricting
the Press? On
January 26 UN
"global
communications"
chief Alison
Smale flew to
Charleston,
South Carolina
for a photo op
and UNTV video
with China's
Xiamen
Airlines for
having
painting the
UN's "SDGs"
logo on the
side of an
airplane. This
without having
answered Press
questions
about her
Department of
Public
Information's
malfeasance
with resources
allocated by
the General
Assembly for Kiswahili
and about the
lack under her
"leadership"
of any content
neutral UN
media access
rules.
Afterward,
when Inner
City Press
asked for the
mp4 video
of her South
Carolina
junket - Inner
City Press is
informed that
the plane she
celebrated
could not in
fact fly - it
was told to
"Ask UN
Webcast,"
which is under
Smale. They
were asked -
and have not
given the
video. Nor has
Smale offered
any response
to a detailed
petition
two weeks ago,
while
re-tweeting
her former
employer the
NYT and
current boss
Antonio
Guterres. But
who is making
who look bad?
And how can a
former NYT
editor have no
content
neutral media
access rules,
and no
answers? As
she restricts
Inner City Press from its
UN reporting on
Cameroon,
Myanmar,
Kenya,
Yemen
and elsewhere?
We'll
have more on
this. While
any country
would try to
get the UN to
promote its
airline, if
the UN would
do it, Smale
is the UN
official who
responsible
for Inner City
Press being
restricted and
evicted as it
reports on the
UN bribery
scandal of
Patrick Ho and
China Energy
Fund
Committee.
Smale hasn't
even deigned
to answer
petitions in
this regard,
in September
(she said she
recognized the
need for the
"courtesy" of
a response,
never given)
and in
January --
too busy
flying to
South Carolina
to promote an
airline:
Today's
UN of Antonio Guterres, who
just met
with ICC indictee Omar al
Bashir, and his Deputy Amina
J. Mohammed who has refused
Press questions
on her rosewood signatures
and now the refoulement of 47
people to Cameroon from "her"
Nigeria, has become a place of
corruption and censorship. On
January 30 as Inner City Press
sought to complete its
reporting for the day on
Guterres' Bashir meeting and
Mohammed's Cameroon no-answer,
it had a problem. It was
invited to the month's UN
Security Council president's
end of presidency reception,
6:30 to 8:30 - but with its
accreditation reduced by
censorship, it could not get
back into the UN after 7 pm,
to the already delayed UN
video. It ran to at least
enter the reception - but the
elevator led to a jammed
packed third floor, diplomats
lined up to shake the outgoing
UNSC president's hand. Inner
City Press turn to turn tail
back to the UN, passing on its
way favored, pro-UN
correspondents under no such
restriction. Periscope here.
Inner City Press has written
about this to the head of the
UN Department of Public
Information Alison
Smale, in Sepember
2017 - no answer but a new threat - and this
month, when Smale's DPI
it handing out full access
passes to no-show state media.
No answer at all: pure
censorship, for corruption.
Smale's DPI diverted funds
allocated for Kiswahili,
her staff say, now saying they
are targeted for retaliation.
This is today's UN. Amid UN
bribery scandals, failures in
countries from Cameroon to
Yemen and declining
transparency, today's UN does
not even pretend to have
content neutral rules about
which media get full access
and which are confined to
minders or escorts to cover
the General Assembly.
Inner City Press,
which while it pursue the
story of Macau-based
businessman Ng Lap Seng's
bribery of President of the
General Assembly John Ashe was
evicted by the UN Department
of Public Information from its
office, is STILL confined to
minders as it pursues the new
UN bribery scandal, of Patrick
Ho and Cheikh Gadio
allegedly bribing President of
the General Assembly Sam
Kutesa, and Chad's Idriss
Deby, for CEFC China Energy.
Last week Inner
City Press asked UN DPI where
it is on the list to be
restored to (its) office, and
regain full office - and was
told it is not even on the
list, there is no public list,
the UN can exclude,
permanently, whomever it
wants. This is censorship.
***
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