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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFT Q&A, NY Post

UNITED NATIONS GATE, Sept 12 – Inner City Press on 5 July 2018 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' Department of Global Communication issued a letter banning Inner City Press from the UN - for life. With no due process. Guterres has 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 September 12 more than three hours before what would have been a noon briefing by Spokesman Stephane Dujarric except he canceled it for a lame five question (no Africa) scripted stakeout by Guterres, after the July 26 noon briefing had no questions at all, video here, Inner City Press submitted 1205 questions, including why it continues to be lawlessly banned from entering to ask questions in person: "There are more than 800+ 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 belatedly sent on Sept 6 (while you still withhold if-asked information about Cameroon child rape(s) in DRC),  and 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, 3-30 (one answer in the entire month - corrupt), and now May 1-13, 15-17, 21-31, June 3-28, and July 1-2, 8-31 and August 1-5, 8-30, Sept 3-5, 9-11 many questions. 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.

September 12-1: On Burundi, beyond yesterday's question which you have not answered, please immediately explain ASG Bintou Keita's comments that all is peaceful in the country in contrast to the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi describing abuse and rape and sstating "the Burundian State may be held responsible for the acts identified in the present report, which constitute human rights violations"? Why is UN Peacekeeping still using Burundi peacekeepers?

September 12-2: On Egypt, what is the SG's comment and action if any on the arrest of Omar Magdy Shendi, the son of Magdy Shendi, a prominent journalist and editor of newspaper Al-Mashhad.  Egyptian security forces stormed Shendi's house in a dawn raid on Tuesday in a bid to arrest Mr. Shendy who was not home at the time. Instead, they arrested his son Omar.  Magdy Shendi returned immediately and went to the Giza Security Directorate to hand himself in and demand his son's release

September 12-3: On Nigeria, what are the comments and actions if any of the SG and separately DSG Amina J. Mohammed on the popular singer in northern Nigeria who has been arrested. He was taken away by officers from his home in Kano city on Wednesday evening. Naziru Ahmad is the latest performer to be detained by the authorities in what seems to be a crackdown on artists who are seen as critical of the state administration.

September 12-4: On Tanzania, beyond the refoulement to Burundi Inner City Press' questions on which you have refused to answer, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that a Tanzanian journalist charged with money laundering and leading organised crime could face up to five years in jail without trial because bail is not guaranteed in cases involving alleged economic crimes. Erick Kabendera’s lawyers and family also criticised Tanzanian immigration authorities for refusing to return his wife and children’s passports

September 12-5: On press freedom and El Salvador and by implication Guterres' UN, what is the SG's comment and action if any on Salvadoran authorities blocking investigative digital outlets El Faro and Revista Factum from attending press conferences at the Presidential House, like Guterres, Dujarric and now Fleming block Inner City Press from the UN noon briefing? Authorities at the Presidential House in San Salvador, the capital, barred Revista Factum reporter Rodrigo Baires from attending a press conference held by a government minister. He said that a security officer told him, “you are from Factum, you cannot come inside.”  Previously, on September 6, Presidential House security agents barred El Faro reporter Gabriel Labrador and Revista Factum reporter Fernando Romero from attending a press conference by President Nayib Bukele. Later that day, the office of the presidency released a statement on Twitter saying that the outlets were denied access due to “bad behavior,” and said that their reporters could be readmitted if they showed respect to other journalists and the institution of the presidency.  The UN hasn't even done that. What is your explanation?

September 11-1: On Cameroon, given that Paul Biya's speech which SG Guterres immediately praised reiterated threats to crush "separatists" and denied that any marginalization has taken place, while leaders have been given life prison sentences, what is the meaning of Guterres' praise? Who worked on this statement - Francois Lonceny Fall? Rosemary DiCarlo? Had the Biya regime given the UN any heads-up? And again, where is the if-asked information about the Cameroon UN peacekeepers child rape in DRC? 

September 11-2: On press freedom and Tajikistan, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that websites and email addresses belonging to embattled independent news agency Asia Plus in Tajikistan have been down since August 19, according to the agency? 

September 10-3: What are the SG's and USG Fleming's view of the ethics of UN Correspondents Association official taking a paid trip to China at this time, with regard to Xinjiang, Hong Kong and bribery by China Energy Fund Committee, which tried to buy the oil company of Gulbenkian Foundation which has made payments to the SG? See here

September 10-5: On UN corruption, UN Security and South Sudan, what are the comments of SG Guterres, DFS and USG Michaud if any on whistleblowers telling Inner City Press that "Recruitment fraud in the selection of Chief Security Officer position  in UNMISS  did not have adequate controls and mechanisms in place for planning, monitoring and reporting of chief security officer activities and recruitments. Igor Mitrokhin of UNDSS from Russia  is pushing David Shearer, SRSG of UNMISS and Principal Security Advisor, Graeme to take Nikolay Kovalev of Russia at all cost disregarding all rules.

September 9-3: Please explain why SG Guterres on September 7 sought to avoid questions on Cameroon by entering the public mansion via the back door on 57th Street, and how the UN learned that questions awaited. 

September 9-6: On UN sexual exploitation and abuse, again this the request that Inner City Press asked you and others in writing on the morning of August 19 that you "immediately provide all if-asked and additional information about the new allegation of SEA announced at 11:01 am today, of child rape by a Cameroonian "peacekeeper" in DR Congo and that you immediately provide the "if asked" information about  that you immediately provide the "granular" information that was promised last week at another noon briefing Inner City Press was banned from, to correspondents who barely ask or publish about this topic.

September 5-4: On UN opacity, please immediately state: where IS Workneh Gebeyehu Negewo, whom SG Guterres back on 8 March 2019 named as director general of the United Nations Office at Nairobi. Inner City Press' sources in Kenya tell it he has STILL not been seen there. Why has the UN of Guterres said nothing? 

September 4-8: Immediately explain the single lawless line from MALU on 30 August 2019: "Greetings Matthew Lee from Inner City Press, Your media accreditation request, with reference no: M5413398, has been declined for the following reason: Media accreditation was withdrawn on 17 August 2018." This is a formal request for the UN's explanation of grounds for this denial. And a demand for answer to these questions, which MALU has declined to answer:  Who made the decision?  Where is the list of those accredited by [MALU]?  What and to whom is the process of appeal? 

September 3-9: On Cameroon and press freedom, what are the SG's belated comments and actions if any on that Amadou Vamoulke, the head of the Cameroon Radio Television for nine years in which he repeatedly spoke out against the government’s monopoly on television coverage and the criminalization of media workers, officially arrested and detained at the Yaounde Kondengui Prison in 2016? 

September 3-10: Again, regarding the statement sent on August 28 by the Under Secretary General of DSS, copied to Hua Jiang and others, please immediately explain  a) why, since DSS states that it does not have a ban / bar / block on me but only enforces that I not exercise the rights of a UN accredited journalist (which were stripped from me without any hearing or right to appeal), I have in the past year been blocked from entering the UN even with invited with a ticket, and  b) why, since DSS states that it does not have a ban / bar / block on me but only enforces that I not exercise the rights of a UN accredited journalist (which were stripped from me without any hearing or right to appeal), my August 24 application to enter the UN like 100s of other correspondents to cover the upcoming UNGA high level week has not yet been granted, and  c) with regard to USG Michaud writing that  "On 10 July 2018 UNDSS escorted Mr. Matthew Lee from the UNHQ complex after he attempted to gain unauthorized access to a locked area" - explain, at long last, what this "locked area" was, since it was only the (unlocked) Vienna Cafe outside the UN Budget Committee meeting which by the rules I was allowed to cover, and  d) with regard to USG Michaud writing that the "DSS role is now limited to ensuring that unaccredited individuals do not enter the premises," how it is that tourists, and NGO visitors, who are not accredited by DPI/DGC are allowed in by DSS, but I have not been for the past year. Again, please immediately explain wny my August 24 application to enter the UN like 100s of other correspondents to cover the upcoming UNGA high level week has not yet been granted 

September 3-17: In light of the death of Jeffrey Epstein, now on August 27 multiply accused of sex trafficking along with Ghislaine Maxwell who was allowed to promote her now closed charity in the UN Press Briefing Room, as Inner City Press asked without any UN response on July 22, please immediately disclose all UN interactions with his Ghislaine Maxwell's TerraMar Project and relatedly, with Paolo Zampolli. 

September 3-19: On press freedom and Cameroon, on which you refused to answer on August 13 despite saying the office was staffed and answering, now more specific: what is the SG's comment and action if any, post golden statue, to that Paul Atanga Nji, territorial administration minister, says Cameroon's journalists are becoming highly unpatriotic.  "They have one main objective, just to sabotage government action, to promote secessionist tendencies," said Nji. "I urge them to be responsible. Those who do not want to respect the laws will be booked as being recalcitrant and will be treated as such"... Now that the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled against public officials blocking critics on Twitter even if the official claims their account is private, what is the justification for UNSG Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, with the UN flag in his profile photo and Guterres promoting content, blocking Inner City Press? What is SG Guterres' response / reaction to UN DSS and Guterres' actions on Inner City Press being listed in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, here.  In the UN, what has the accountability been for Lt Ronald E. Dobbins and those those refused on camera to give their names? What is each of yours - particularly the SG's - response to the letter written and sent by Burundi activist Manisha Lievin? Immediately explain the single lawless line from MALU on 30 August 2019: "Greetings Matthew Lee from Inner City Press, Your media accreditation request, with reference no: M5413398, has been declined for the following reason: Media accreditation was withdrawn on 17 August 2018." 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 Fleming have not even responded... 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 - and respond that Inner City Press on August 24 applied like 100s or 1000s of others to cover the upcoming UNGA high level week, including now formally offering to answer any quesions the UN / DSS might have, having been vetted and accredited elsewhere since, as both USG DSS Michaud and MALU have formally been timely informed -- and how it is possible that a media that closely covers and uncovers the UN could be denied entry, other than (SG) censorship.

May 15-3: On the Public Financial Disclosures for 2017 belatedly published over the weekend of April 27-28, please state why Mohammed Ibn Chambas, like the Executive Secretary of the UN Biodiversity Convention, Cristiana Paşca-Palmer, UNICEF's Henriette Fore, with documented links to ExxonMobil and others, USG Mark Lowcock (undisclosed while the Secretariat's speaker at the UNSC Arria on Cameroon), UNCTAD's Mukhisa Kituyi, UN Women's Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UNOG chief Michael Moller, UNDP chief Achim Steiner,  Heidi Mendoza, Adama Dieng, UN Security chief Peter Drennan, Rosemary DiCarlo and Nicholas Haysum, is not even on the list. OIOS chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius reported - why not Mendoza? Where IS Mendoza? Isn't it a bad practice for the UN's head (anti) genocide definition official to conceal from the public even cursory financial disclosure? Did DiCarlo decline to make any public disclosure despite being the UN's top political officer? What is the even plausible applicability of this line from SG Guterres' web page: "Please note that given the multi-cultural environment of the UN and the often security sensitive locations where UN staff are either working or come from, full public disclosure may not always be a viable or sensible option for certain staff members"? Why has Guterres changed the previous system in a which a "choosing not to disclose" statement was upload and listed, to one which helps conceal who reports and who does not?  Again, state why considering 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 was omitted from his online public financial disclosure covering 2016, and why Guterres has not even started an audit of CEFC in the UN. 

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