After
Qatar
Sentences Poet
to Life, Ban
Silent,
Nothing from
UNESCO
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 9 --
After Qatar
imposed a
sentence of
life in
prison on poet
Mohammad Bin
Al Dheeb Al
Ajami for a
single line in
his paean to
the Tunisian
revolution,
Jasmine, Inner
City Press asked
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman what
Ban "think
of a life
sentence for a
poet,"
since he was
in Doha at the
time.
The
spokesman,
Eduardo Del
Buey, replied
that Ban "is
aware of the
case and
is following
it."
But
Ban hasn't
said a word
about the
poet's life
sentence, for
writing
that, "We are
all Tunisia,
in the face of
the repressive
elite."
The
poet's lawyer
said the
charges were,
"inciting the
overthrow of
the ruling
regime" and
"criticizing
the ruler,"
illegal under
the Qatari
penal code.
Del
Buey went
on, as the
UN Secretariat
does more and
more, to refer
Inner City
Press
to an
affiliate. He
said, "We'll
have to see.
You might want
to
talk
to UNESCO to
see if they
have anything
on that."
Inner
City Press
checked and
wrote to the
two top
spokespeople
of the
United Nations
Educational,
Scientific and
Cultural
Organization
asking "does
UNESCO have
any comment on
the treatment
by Qatar of
poet Muhammad
Ibn al-Dheeb
al-Ajami?"
Forty
four hours
later, not
only has there
been no
response from
UNESCO --
a Google News
search for
Qatar, poet,
UNESCO find no
comment at
all.
Back
on September
7, 2012, Inner
City Press covered a
"freedom of
the
press" event
sponsored by
then President
of the General
Assembly
(and now still
UN official)
Nassir
Abdulaziz
Al-Nasser at
which he
intoned that
"Freedom of
information,
which is a
fundamental
right inherent
in the
Universal
Declaration of
Human Rights,
became
subject to
threat and
suppression."
Inner City
Press noted,
"Qatar wants
its hand in
everything --
but will it
promote a
needed Freedom
of Information
rule at the
UN? Does it
protect
journalists?"
Certainly
Qatar does not
protect poets
- quite the
opposite. And
Ban Ki-moon,
and
even the
outsourced
expresser of
concern
UNESCO, are
quiet. Watch
this site.
, 
