UNITED NATIONS
GATE, April
12
– Inner City Press on
July 5 was banned from
entering the UN, the day
after it filed a
criminal complaint
against UN Security for
physically removing it
from covering the
meeting about the UN
Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' $6.7
billion peacekeeping
budget, as witnessed and
essentially cheered on
by senior UN official
Christian Saunders,
tearing its reporter's
shirt, painfully and
intentionally twisting
his arm and slamming
shut and damaging his
laptop. On August 17,
Guterres' Global
Communicator Alison
Smale issued a letter
banning Inner City Press
from the UN - for life.
With no due process. She
and Guterres have put
the UN in the US Press
Freedom Tracker, here.
Smale said,
again, that the UN would
answer Press questions
to the Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric and
his Office; Dujarric said the
same on
camera.
On April
12 more
than two
hours
before the UN
noon briefing, Inner
City Press submitted
715 questions: "There
are more than 400+
questions UNanswered.
And Monday Sept 17,
Tuesday Sept 18, Wed
Sept 19 and Thurs
and Fri Sept 21, that
whole week, no questions
answered. Nor Sept 25,
nor 28th - nor October 2
nor 3. While
appreciating and using
what was sent on March
28 in partial request to
Inner City Press'
questions about the UN
bribery sentence of
Patrick Ho of CEFC and
CEFC's 2018 attempt to
buy the oil company of
Gulbenkian Foundation
which paid the SG, no
answers on Dec 17 or 18
or 19 or 20 or 21 -
another FIVE days in a
row, even as SG's direct
conflicts of interest
and failure to disclose
emerge, and a newest
low. No answers on
January 30 nor 31 nor
February 1 nor 4 nor 5
nor 6 nor 7 nor 11 nor
12 nor 13 nor 14 nor 15
nor 18 nor 19 nor 20 nor
21 nor 22 nor 25 nor 26
nor 27 nor March 1 - 27
(!) And
now April
1, 3-11.
No answers at all during
those four days of the
US v Ho trial showing
corruption in the UN
says it all. This ban is
just censorship - and
Inner City Press must be
allowed back into the
noon briefing to ask its
questions in person and
follow up on them.
April
12-1: On Cameroon, what
is the comment and
action of the SG, beyond
the golden statue, on
that Aafarmer believed
to be in his fourties
has been attacked by
elements of the Cameroon
defence forces. The
incident occurred at the
Mile 16 neigbourhood in
Buea, South West Region
MMI has learnt. “I was
in the house waiting for
someone to come collect
oil I brought from the
farm the previous day
when I saw the door
forced open. I was asked
if I live here. I
answered with a yes, and
I was asked to show the
hideouts of Ambazonian
fighters. I told them I
don’t know the people
they are asking after
and that I’m just a
farmer. They accused me
of knowing them but I
told them I could only
recognise them as
soldiers because I can
see from their outfits
(uniforms). As I
insisted I don’t know
the whereabout of those
they are searching for,
they started beating me.
One of them proposed I
should be killed and the
other refused. They took
my machete and
repeatedly cut me on
different parts on my
body. They broke my
doors and the doors of a
neighbour who had
died?
April
12-2: On Comoros, what
is the SG's comment and
action if any on that
Toufé Maecha,
editor-in-chief of the
privately owned daily
Masiwa Komor, was
detained by authorities
and interrogated, and
three newspapers have
had their print runs
seized following the
election?
April
12-3: On Morocco, what
is the SG's comment and
action if any on that
Moroccan prison
authorities have held an
imprisoned journalist in
a form of abusive
solitary confinement for
more than a year. A
first instance court
sentenced Taoufik
Bouachrine, publisher of
Akhbar el-Youm, one of
the country’s last
opposition newspapers,
to 12 years in prison in
November 2018. He was
convicted on charges of
aggravated sexual
assault in a trial that
some, including the
United Nations’ Working
Group on Arbitrary
Detention, concluded was
marred by due-process
violations. Since his
detention in
Casablanca’s Ain El
Borja prison in February
2018, authorities have
not allowed Bouachrine
to meet with other
prisoners or converse
with staff?
April
12-4: On press freedom
and Nigeria, what are
the comments and actions
if any of the SG and
separate DSG Amina J
Mohammed on that Jay FM,
a Jos-based private
radio station has taken
legal action against the
National Broadcasting
Commission (NBC) over
its prolonged shutdown
by the commission? Mr
Clinton Garuba, CEO of
Jay FM, said that the
case against NBC had
been filed at Federal
High Court sitting in
Jos. The CEO said
that it became necessary
to seek justice against
the regulatory body,
alleging that NBC had
submitted itself to
manipulations by some
highly- placed power
player. What is each of
yours - particularly the
SG's - response to the
letter written and sent
by Burundi activist
Manisha Lievin? AGAIN,
immediately explain how
it is legitimate to ban
from enter into the UN
the media that has been
asking about these and
other questions, with no
hearing or appeal.
April
11-1: On impunity, what
is the SG's comment and
action, including on
accountability if any,
on that a charge against
a United Nations
diplomat under the Land
Transport Act was
withdrawn in the Suva
Magistrates Court
today. Deputy Head
and Senior Sustainable
Development Officer for
the UN Economic and
Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific,
Tim Westbury was charged
with the offence of
driving whilst under the
influence of
alcohol. The
charge was withdrawn by
the Director of Public
Prosecutions following
confirmation that
Westbury had been
accredited diplomatic
status in Fiji as a
result of his employment
with the UN. So what
happens to this UN drunk
driver?
April
11-3: On Libya, what is
the SG's comment and
response to that the
Nepal Army, through the
Office of the Permanent
Representative of Nepal
to the United Nations in
New York, has informed
the UN about its
willingness to withdraw
its troops.
Brigadier General Yam
Dhakal, spokesperson for
the Nepal Army, told the
Post that because Nepali
blue helmets are
guarding the
headquarters, it will
depend on Salamé—on how
long he wants to stay
there—before the
231-strong Nepali troops
return. Only one
official, who has been
deployed as an observer,
is staying in Tunisia
while the remaining 230
are in
Tripoli.
“Given the deteriorating
security situation, we
have conveyed our
willingness to pull our
troops out,” Dhakal
said?
April 10-1: On
Somalia and UN sexual
abusers, what is the
SG's comment and
particularly action on
the UNDT finding that
a convicted rapist was
sent by the UN to
Somalia? What is the
SG's comment to the
Somalia people,
particularly women? As
reported today by
Inner City Press,
citing UNDT/2019/045,
it was UNDT itself
which said it has
confirmed that the
person UNICEF sent to
Somalia was "was
imprisoned at
Woodbourne
Correctional Facility
in New York State,
United States of
America, following a
conviction on charges
of rape in the first
degree; unlawful
imprisonment in the
first degree; burglary
in the second degree
and assault in the
second degree." Who
will be held
accountable?
April 10-2: On
Cameroon, what is SG
Guterres' comment and
action if any after
the golden statue on
that on 4 April 2019
Cameroonian soldiers,
gendarmes, and members
of the Rapid
Intervention Brigade
(BIR) carried out a
deadly attack on the
North-West region
village of Meluf,
killing at least five
civilian men,
including one with a
mental disability, and
wounded one
woman?Three of the
bodies were later
found mutilated,
including one that had
been
decapitated.
April
4-2: On UN bribery and
censorship, what now is
the SG's comment and
response to the April
3article in Serbia about
CEFC which Mr Guterres
has refused to audit -
and about his refusal to
answer, and censorship
of Press "Gutereš had
and had his own
financial link with the
CEFC, through the
Gulbenkian Foundation.
On the orders of
Guteres, on June 22 and
July 3, 2018, the
security came to me, and
I was banned from
reporting from the UN.
In fact, Gutereš took
advantage of his
security from the UN to
distance me from his
speech at the Park East
Synagogue, and recently
physically stopped me
while he entered the
mosque in 96th
Street" and now this
- "Patrick
Ho, a businessman who
was sentenced to three
years in prison for his
role in the world's
corrupting affair,
claims investigative
journalist Matthew
Russell Li in the
documentary "Hong Kong
Connection, Patrick Ho's
List." Li, in a
documentary broadcast on
the Hong Kong
Radio-Television portal,
revealed Jeremic's role
in this affair, a tens
of millions of dollars,
as well as his private
dilutes, which he made
while serving as the
chairman of the United
Nations General
Assembly. -
Jeremic's testimony at
the Ho trial was
problematic because he
turned out to be working
for "CEFC Energy" (a
Chinese conglomerate led
by Ho, prim. Aut.) While
serving as the chairman
of the UN General
Assembly. He took their
money, exchanged e-mails
with them ... He did
many things. It is
surprising to me that
the focus of the
prosecution was at Ho.
The prosecutors used his
testimony to show how Ho
established a
relationship, and in
fact what Jeremic was
doing might be worse for
the public - Li
said.
Investigative reporters
also uncovered the flows
of money flowing to
Jeremic's accounts. Hoov
CEFC paid Jeremic as a
consultant a total of $
5.3 million. It turns
out that some companies
that paid this money are
completely phantom,
because they do not
exist at the registered
addresses at all."
As always, what is the
process of appealing or
getting a hearing on the
now 274 day ban amid
this questions, or
process to reapply which
was denied summarily on
2 January 2019? How is
this not
censorship?) and
the translated 22 minute
documentary about
Patrick Ho and CEFC's
bribes through the UN
including Mr. Guterres'
refusal to answer Inner
City Press' question on
it on 5 December 2018,
and that Inner City
Press for allegedly not
complying with interview
"rules" has been
disqualified from
reporting within the
UN? Again,
the sentencing
memorandum includes
quotes from his e-mails
regarding aiming to
violate sanctions and
deal in arms not only to
Chad but also South
Sudan, Libya &
Qatar. What is the SG's
comment and action?
Again, why has no audit
even been begun of CEFC,
at least like the one
Mr. Guterres'
predecessor did of Ng
Lap Seng's Sun Kian Ip
Foundation? Why did Mr
Guterres omit payments
from Gulbenkian
Foundation, which sought
to sell its oil company
Partex to CEFC China
Energy, from his public
financial disclosure
covering 2016? Where are
the more recent public
financial disclosures -
has Mr. Guterres ended
that program? Why?
March
25-5: On your /
Spokesperson
Dujarric's
recent podcast
interview,
please
immediately
explain what was
meant by a
relationship
with journalists
of "mutually
assured
destruction" -
and why the
podcast links
are mostly
404/no longer
online.
March
25-8: On the
SG's March 22
appearance on
96th Street,
please
immediately
provide the name
of the UN DSS
officer who
spoke to NYPD on
96th Street to
get them to
restraint in
advance Inner
City Press while
UN Photo and
others like AP
walked freely,
the basis for
this censorship
and any and all
records
regarding
it.
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