UNITED NATIONS
GATE, April
23
– 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
23 more
than three
hours
before Dujarric
held a UN
noon briefing when
he bragged that
Guterres cares
about press
freedom (for Reuters
in Myanmar),
Inner
City Press submitted
742 questions, including why
it continues to be
lawlessly banned
from entering to ask
questions in person:
"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, 3-22.
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
23-1: Now that you have
confirmed that SG
Guterres is going to
China for the "Belt and
Road" event, please
immediate how the trip
costs, the size and
composition of the UN
delegation, and who is
paying for it (given
that even the PGA now
discloses this
information).
Again, state whether
after the UN bribery
conviction of Patrick Ho
of CEFC, and CEFC's
attempt to purchase the
oil company of
Gulbenkian Foundation
which paid Mr. Guterres
in 2016 (omitted from
his online public
financial disclosure
covering 2016), he
intends to raise
corruption and UN
bribery issues with
China.
April
23-2: On UN sexual abuse
and exploitation, please
immediately provide all
if-asked further
information about the
allegations put online
on April 22 regarding
DRC peacekeeper seuxal
misconduct in CAR, and
still for the
allegations put online
April 17 regarding
Burundi and South Africa
peacekeepers and still
the Cameroon troops'
rape allegations you
have not provide any
further information on.
Again, on the SEA report
which was not sent to
Inner City Press by the
UN but by others, and
which Inner City Press
voluntarily refrained
from reporting on until
the 10 am deadline,
please before 10 am
explain (a) four
allegations involved
sexual harassment,
physical assault and
paternity claims, which
were considered not to
contain indications of
sexual exploitation and
abuse - question: isn't
fathering a child with a
beneficiary of UN
"assistance" per se
exploitation? (b) one
allegation involved a
member of United Nations
personnel not associated
with a peacekeeping
mission; one allegation
did not involve sexual
exploitation and abuse -
question - what are the
bases of these
statement?; and one
allegation was received
by OIOS in 2018 but will
be recorded in 2019,
once it is referred to
the Member State
concerned - question:
what is the member state
concerned and what have
they done, now a full
month of censorship
later, as of 18 April
2019?
April
23-3: On Iran and human
rights, what is SG
Guterres' comment and
action on the
reiteration of the
13-year prison sentence
of human rights attorney
Mohammad Najafi who was
jailed in 2018 after
voicing support for
people detained during
anti-government
protests? Najafi was
sentenced in December to
10 years for “conveying
information to a hostile
country” through
interviews with foreign
media, two years for
insulting the supreme
leader and one year for
publicly supporting
opposition groups.
Mohammad Najafi had been
imprisoned since October
28, 2018, for informing
media outlets about the
suspicious case of Vahid
Heydari, 22, who died in
detention at the 12th
Police Station in Arak.
That on April 16, 2019,
Branch 2 of the
Prosecutor’s Office in
Tehran’s Evin prison
issued an indictment
against Amir Salar
Davoudi on charges of
“cooperating with
hostile
governments"?
April
23-4: On press freedom,
what is SG Guterres'
comment and action if
any on the arrest of
journalist Gaspard Glanz
at the Yellow Vest /
Gilet Jaune protest in
Paris over the weekend
as "an affront to
freedom of the
press." Glanz, a
freelance video
journalist covering
social movements, was
arrested while covering
a demonstrations at
Place de la République
in Paris on
Saturday. Placed
in custody for “insult
to a representative of
public authority” and
“participation in a
group with a view to
causing violence and
degradations”, Glanz
remained in custody on
Monday, awaiting
referral to a
court. Police also
arrested freelance
journalist Alexis
Kraland on Saturday.
What is each of yours -
particularly the SG's -
response to the letter
written and sent by
Burundi activist Manisha
Lievin? To the April 15
letter to the SG, DSG
and USG Smale for which
receipt has not even
been acknowledged, other
than a single lawless
line from MALU: "Your
media accreditation
request, with reference
no: M66561081, has been
declined"? This is a
formal request for the
UN's explanation of
grounds for this denied,
and since SGcentral, the
SG's chief of staff and
Deputy SG and USG Smale
haven't even confirmed
receipt of the April 15
letter much less
responded, for
reconsideration. 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
22-2: Please immediately
state where SG Guterres'
Youth Envoy is, on what
mission, and whether a
statement explicit as a
Sri Lankan, saying that
2009 was only about
suicide bombs (and not
the government's
bloodbath on the beach)
is appropriate and
supported by the SG.
Also, what is the status
of the UN's MOU with
Saudi Prince MBS's MiSK
Foundation?
April
22-5: What is the status
of OIOS head Heidi
Mendoza? Is she still on
medical leave, despite
having flown to New York
for an event at the
Filipino
consulate?
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
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
25-8: 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.
,
