On
Bahrain
Tweeter
Imprisoned,
UN's Ban Has
No Comment: 6
Strikes &
Not Out
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 4 --
In Bahrain
back on
December 17,
Sayed Yusuf
al-Muhafadha
tweeted a
photograph of
a protester
injured with
birdshot by
the
authorities,
with the
hashtag
#Manama.
He
was arrested
and charged
with
"willfully
disseminating
false
news" and
"incitement to
violence."
Inner
City Press has
now six times
asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokespeople
for Ban's view
of this
arrest: five
times in
writing,
and Friday in
person at the
day's noon
press
briefing.
Then,
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
said he would
check with the
Office of the
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights.
Back
on December
24, Inner City
Press asked
Nesirky and
two other
spokespeople
"Does the
Secretary
General have
any comment on
the
jailing in
Bahrain of
Said Yousif
al-Muhafda for
his Tweets?
Also, on
the poet
sentenced by
Qatar that I
asked about
(and was told
to ask
UNESCO), I got
nothing back
from UNESCO.
Is the S-G
still
following
that case?
Does he have
any comment?"
While
some other
questions were
answer, this
was not. Inner
City Press
re-submitted
the question
on December
26, 27, 28 and
31. Still, no
answer.
There
has been some
delay in
getting even
OHCHR's
explanation of
how it
selected its
contractor
Benetech for
its recent
Syria study
from the
agency's
hard-working
spokesman. In
any
event, the
question has
been and is
for Ban
Ki-moon's and
his
Secretariat's
view. Watch
this site.
Footnotes:
As
an aside, Human
Rights Watch
claims to have
good access to
Ban
Ki-moon, has
even refused
to provide the
Press with any
summary of
topics it has
raised to Ban,
in order to
maintain its
access. But if
it has such
good access,
why has it not
been able to
get Ban to
take
an interest in
the case of
the
incarcerated
Tweeter?
And why is its
director's
tweeting
entirely
one-way,
self-congratulation
on getting
a travel ban
imposed
for example on
an M23
political
leader such
that
he couldn't
attend talks
in Kampala
with the
Congolese
government?
What
has HRW done
to hold the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations and
its boss Herve
Ladsous
accountable
for their
supposed Human
Rights
Due Diligence
Policy, after
the 126 rapes
by the
Congolese Army
in
Minova? HRW,
director and
two staff,
have been
asked without
answer.
And so it
goes.
, 
