UN
Censorship
Alliance
Serves
Dujarric a
Set-Up Q,
Video Here,
Ousting Press
Is OK
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 22 --
After Inner
City Press was
summarily
ejected from
the UN, which
it has covered
for ten years,
on February
19, the
ostensibly
deciding
official
Cristina
Gallach told
no less than
Nobel Peace
Prize laureate
Jose Ramos
Horta that
Inner City
Press would
still be able
to cover the
UN.
She didn't say
how curtailed
Inner City
Press' access
would be under
this
extortionate
"offer." To
another
petitioner she
wrote:
"Thanks very
much for your
message which
gives me the
opportunity to
fully clarify
the situation
created with
Mr Mathew [sic]
Lee. Recently
he was in open
breach of the
guidelines
governing all
resident
correspondents
at the UN, the
group that get
a privileged
access to an [sic]
space from
where to
report. That
space
continues to
be UN premises
and its
graciously
given for use
to a reduced
number of
media
correspondents.
"Given that, I
decided to
withdraw from
him this pass
and offered
him the
regular press
accreditation
pass. As soon
as he gets it
from the
accreditation
office, he
will be able
to report from
and [sic]
the UN
premises."
This UN
Director of
Communications
was not
mentioned,
yet, in the February
22 BuzzFeed
piece, here
- despite
being the
signer of the
ouster order
without even
having sought
or allowed
Inner City
Press side of
the story.
Things are
just... said.
But
when Inner
City Press
came to the UN
on Monday
morning, with
another
journalist
there to sign
Inner City
Press in as a
guest, UN
Security said,
“You are
Banned from
the UN.”
Audio
here.
Inner
City Press
left the UN
pass office,
and set up
shop in the
Isaiah
plowshares
park across
from the UN.
Several
Permanent
Representatives,
at least two
Under
Secretaries
General (the
same rank as
Gallach) and
many staff
came to
express
outrage at the
UN's
censorship.
But in
the UN Press
Briefing Room,
which was
"lent" to the
UN
Correspondents
(or
Corruption)
Association
back on
January 29,
the reaction
was different.
In an
embarrassing
colloquy, long
time UNCA
board member
Masood Haider
asked
Spokesman
Dujarric about
"the blogger
Matthew Lee"
who has been
"spewing on
the Internet
reports
whether false
or not." Vine
here; Video here; UN
transcript
here:
UNCA
Question:
Stéphane, can
you please
tell us about
the blogger,
Mr. Matthew
Lee, who has
been very
active on the
internet
spewing all
kinds of
reports,
whether false
or not?
What is the
status now?
Spokesman:
Mr. Lee has
available to
him a
non-resident
pass for four
months and
which, last I
heard, he had
not claimed,
but that's
what he has
available.
I know there
were reports
that we had
“seized his
files”.
Completely
untrue.
His office
remains
untouched.
And we await
him to return
so he can
vacate his
office.
Thank you.
Yeah -
thank you for
the set-up
question to
put propaganda
in to the UN
record.
On February 19
Inner City
Press asked to
get its
passport and
most important
files but was
pushed out
onto First
Avenue by UN
Security
Deputy Chief
Michael
McNulty
without
either. That's
not seized?
That's OK?
And the
extortionate
offer - no
access unless
with much
reduced rights
- is entirely
disproportionate
to the
non-existent
"crimes,"
which was to
seek to cover
an event in
this same UN
Press Briefing
Room, by UNCA
which took
money from
indicted Ng
Lap Seng's and
Frank
Lorenzo's
South South
News then gave
Ng Lap Seng a
photo op with
Ban Ki-moon.
UNCA
President
Giampaolo was
there, leaving
first from the
February 22
Press-less
press
conference;
another UNCA
board member
slapped
Dujarric on
the back.
Great job!
Bloggers are,
of course,
hacked to
death in
Bangladesh, a
country on
whose free
press record
USG Gallach
never even
replied to a
detailed email
from the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
for protection
for a
Bangladeshi
journalist
then in the
UN. Spewing
indeed.
Dujarric
took the
opportunity to
deny that the
UN had seized
Inner City
Press' files
-- the reality
is, when Inner
City Press
asked on
February 19 to
take the most
important of
them, and its
passport, it
was denied by
UN Security.
On February
22, UN
Security said
Inner City
Press is
Banned from
all UN
premises.
Dujarric said,
as if it's ok,
that Inner
City Press is
being
"offered" much
reduced
access, for
four months.
But Inner City
Press did
nothing wrong,
and the
"investigation"
by Gallach
which led to
its ouster did
not involve a
single
conversation
with or
reaching out
to Inner City
Press.
Any
reduced access
to loss of
office space
-- which
Masood Haider,
who hardly
writes
articles, has,
and UNCA
President
Giampaolo
Pioli has, a
private
office, while
writing about
Morgan Freeman
-- is unfair
and is to cast
a chill of
freedom of the
press. No
staged
colloquy can
hide that.
We'll have
more on this.
Later,
after being
told to leave
even the UN
Pass office, a
UN Under
Secretary
General told
Inner City
Press Gallach
had told other
USGs that
Inner City
Press was in
fact in the
building -
that AFTER
Inner City
Press was told
by UN
Security,
twice, that it
is banned from
all UN
premises and
was told to
leave the UN
Pass office.
Now
Gallach, and
Ban Ki-moon
and his chief
of staff
Edmond Mulet
to whom Inner
City Press
wrote on
February 19,
still without
response, has
received a
legal letter
with a
"demand that
Mr. Lee be
immediately
reissued with
the resident
correspondent
accreditation
that he has
enjoyed for
many
years. I
request these
remedies
pending an
examination of
the entire
matter by the
Special
Rapporteur on
the promotion
and protection
of the right
to freedom of
opinion and
expression or
by any other
mutually
agreed and
independent
review
mechanism.
In reaching
the decision
to
perfunctorily
revoke Mr.
Lee’s resident
correspondent
accreditation,
a number of
accepted
principles of
natural
justice and
rules of
administrative
law were
breached.
These
principles
include, inter
alia, the
right to be
informed
before the
imposition of
administrative
measures, the
right to make
representations
before being
subjected to
those measures
and the right
to appellate
review of such
measures. Mr.
Lee was denied
all of these
procedural
safeguards
which are
commonplace in
most
democratic
societies and
which are
routinely
vaunted by the
United Nations
itself."
As Inner
City Press
sits in the
park across
from the UN
using its
phone as a hot
spot -- hence
no Periscope
-- there has
been no
response.
Ban
Ki-moon's
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric,
who'd also
told those who
questioned him
that Inner
City Press
could end and
cover “his”
briefing on
Monday.
False.
UN Security
then said, you
cannot wait in
the pass
office, you
are banned
from all UN
premises.
Trying to
cover the UN
Security
Council
meeting on
Syria from the
Isaiah
plowshares
park across
from the UN,
various
Ambassadors
came to say
they were
appalled. But
Gallach's
office has
told then,
nothing will
be done.
This is
disgusting
censorship by
an
increasingly
corrupt UN.
As Inner City
Press at the
UN pursues
unfolding
stories of
corruption,
peacekeepers
committing
rapes in the
Central
African
Republic, UN
inaction in
Burundi, South
Sudan and
Yemen, on
February 19
with two hours
notice UN
Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach
ordered Inner
City Press to
be ousted. Letter here.
On the evening
of February
19, UN
Security
Deputy Chief
Michael
McNulty, who
refused to
provide his
name (audio),
pushed Inner
City Press out
onto First
Avenue (audio),
having cut off
its Periscope
video
livestream (video) and not allowed it to get
its files,
coat or
passport from
its longtime
shared office.
Gallach wants
the office
back, to
retaliate and
so the UN
Correspondents
Association
can, in
essence, sell
the UN space
just as it
sells access
to Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
On
February 20,
Inner City
Press posed
four questions
to Dujarric
and his deputy
Farhan Haq,
with a copy to
Gallach
--which 24
hours later
have not been
answered or
even
acknowledged
(while both
Dujarric and
Gallach were
wildly
spinning to
those who
contacted
them,
including Nobel
Laureate Jose
Ramos Horta,
see here,
who was told
there was no
problem taking
over Inner
City Press'
office and
undermining
its ability to
report, edit
videos,
conduct
interviews.
There is a big
problem. Here
are the
questions:
"Please state
the status and
condition of
all of my
papers and
property in my
office, Room
S-303A,
including
investigative
papers,
communications
from sources
including
whistleblowers
and my
passport and
when I will
have the
access to them
that I was
denied on
February 19
and since.
Please state
when the
Resident
Correspondent
UN pass I have
had for years,
but which was
torn off my
neck on Feb
19, will be
returned, in
connection
with 1, above,
and the UNSC
meeting(s) and
UN Noon
Briefing on
Monday
February 22.
Please state
and explain
the role of
the Office of
the
Spokesperson
of the
Secretary
General in the
deprivations
in 1 and 2,
above.
Finally, for
now, please
state the
Secretary-General's
position on UN
Security
Deputy McNulty
on February 19
threatening
twice to have
me “handed
over to NYPD”
(including the
concomitant
acceptance by
the UN of the
NYPD's
jurisdiction),
of UN Security
officers
grabbing my
phone which
was
live-broadcasting
Periscope
video at the
UN Security
Council
stakeout and
turning it
off.
I have other
questions but
these are most
pressing, for
immediate
answer."
And as
yet, 42 hours
later, no
answer. Watch
this site.
While
Inner City
Press was
writing up a
UN Security
Council
meeting on
Syria that
went into the
evening, and
Periscope
broadcasting,
UN Security
guards walked
up, grabbed
Inner City
Press' laptop,
blocked its
Periscope
camera and
turned off the
livestream. Video here.
Then
eight UN
Security
officers led
by Deputy
Chief McNulty
tore off Inner
City Press' UN
ID badge and
carted off
Inner City
Press' laptop
and camera,
returning
these by
throwing them
on the
sidewalk of
First Avenue.
Audio
here.
They did
not allow
Inner City
Press to get
coat or
sweater, or
the files in
its office. No
provision was
made for this.
The
ejection
letter was
signed by the
Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Galach of
Spain but
ultimately
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon is in
charge. Ban
and his chief
of staff
Edmond Mulet
and Deputy SG
Jan Eliasson
were all
written to
with details
as this took
place.
When
Inner City
Press was
thrown out
onto First
Avenue,
standing
waiting,
laughing and
filming, was
Voice of
America's
Margaret
Besheer and
another board
member of the
UN
Correspondents
Association,
whose
president
Giampaoli
Pioli told
Inner City
Press if it
didn't remove
a (truthful)
article about
his screening
of a war
crimes denial
film for a
tenant of his,
Sri Lanka's
then
ambassador
Palitha
Kohona, he
would get
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN.
But who
is running
this asylum?
Ban Ki-moon,
his spokesman
also involved
Stephane
Dujarric (who
threw Inner
City Press out
of the UN
Press Briefing
Room on
January 29,
also trying to
turn off ICP's
Periscoping
phone), and,
some surmise,
some who don't
like Inner
City Press'
questions.
We'll have
more on this.
The
pretext was
Inner City
Press three
weeks earlier
seeking to
cover a
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
by an
organization
which has
taken money
from now
indicted Ng
Lap Seng and
Frank
Lorenzo's
South SOuth
News, then
gave Ng Lap
Seng a photo
op with Ban.
(As Inner City
Press
reported,
Gallach
attended the
South South
Awards with
Frank Lorenzo,
photo
here, just
before his
indictment.
She should
have been
recused from
any
decision-making
on this.)
, 
