UNITED NATIONS
GATE, April
24
– 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
24 more
than two
hours
before Dujarric
held a UN
noon briefing when
he bragged on
Venezuela
that Guterres'
meeting with
Maduro's
foreign
minister was
very "cordial,"
Inner
City Press submitted
748 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, 3-23.
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
24-1: Now that SG
Guterres is all-in with
and going to China's
"Belt and Road" event,
please immediate how the
trip is costing, the
size and composition of
the UN delegation, and
who is paying for it
(given that even the PGA
now discloses this
information).
April
24-2: What is the SG's
comment and action if
any given his claimed
concern for Sri Lanka on
that aChinese
state-owned company took
over the majority stake
in Hambantota port as
Sri Lanka struggled to
pay off its Chinese
loans – a move that
prompted concerns that
Beijing may try to use
the strategic port for
military purposes even
though it was a
commercial contract?
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
24-3: In Cameroon, what
is the role of the UN in
propping up ELECAM even
as non violent opponents
of Paul Biya are jailed?
What has the SG done
about that, after he
took the golden statue
in Yaounde and met about
Budget Committee favors
repeatedly with Biya
Ambassador Tommo
Monthe?
April
24-4: On South Sudan,
what is the SG's comment
and position, given the
$1 billion UN mission
there, on that Salva
Kiir called on Riek
Machar to immediately
return to Juba despite
the failure to implement
security arrangments?
What is UNMISS's role in
this - and what has been
done on UNMISS killing
at least two civilians
as they worked on an
UNMISS facility? Is this
total impunity, as
elsewhere in the UN
system?
April
24-5: On Myanmar, what
is the SG's and his
envoys' comment and
action if any on that
China appears to have
protected the “Wa”
territory from any
enemies, particularly
the Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s
military). The Chinese
government needs the
UWSA in order to play
its political game in
Myanmar. C. S.
Kuppuswamy wrote that
“China has been a
longtime patron of the
UWSA and considers the
UWSA as its key ally in
its relations with the
Myanmar government. It
has been supporting the
UWSA both economically
and militarily as a
pressure tactic against
the Myanmar
government.” It
has become more publicly
visible that the UWSA is
obtaining modern
military equipment and
weaponry from China. In
2013, China sent
helicopters equipped
with missiles, which
could provide a “serious
deterrent” to the
Tatmadaw. It appears
that China started
pushing its investment
in the UWSA after
Myanmar veered toward
the West by, for
instance, accepting a
visit from a U.S.
warship in April
2017?
April
24-6: On freedom of the
press and Myanmar, what
is the SG's comment and
action if any on that
the Myanmar military has
sued The Irrawaddy News
under Article 66(d) of
the Telecommunications
Law for its coverage of
recent clashes between
the Army and the Arakan
Army ethnic armed group
in the ancient town of
Mrauk-U in Rakhine
State? The military’s
Yangon Region Command
filed the case against
the news agency’s
Burmese edition editor U
Ye Ni on April 12 at
Kyauktada Police
Station. It is the
second time the military
has taken legal action
against The Irrawaddy in
the past three years. In
June 2017 a reporter
from the news
organization and two
others from Democratic
Voice of Burma were
detained by the military
and charged under
Article 17(1) of the
Unlawful Association Act
during a reporting trip
to northern Shan
State... 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
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
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
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.
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