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

UNITED NATIONS GATE, Oct 22 – 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 October 22 more than three hours before the noon briefing by Spokesman Stephane "French Whine" Dujarric at which he said no comment on AU ambassador fired for noting French domination in Africa, after the July 26 noon briefing had no questions at all, video here, Inner City Press submitted 1305 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, 9-30 and now October 1-3, 7-14, 16-21 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.

October 22-1: On UN sexual exploitation and abuse - alleged - this is a repeated request following Inner City Press' Oct 21 question to each of you, entirely unresponded to, that you immediately provide the "if asked" information about the casesof  child rape and sexual exploitation by UN "peacekeepers" from South Africa, Indonesia, Mauritania and again Cameroon, in DRC and Central African Republic just cursorily data dumped onto the UN website after 3 pm on October 21, and of sexual exploitation by Peru military observer in DRC / MONUSCO Inner City Press has been asking about for more than a week. Inner City Press is asking in writing because banned from the noon briefings and any follow up questions, now for more than a year. On August 24 Inner City Press re-applied for admission to cover the UNGA high level week; on August 30 it was summarily rejected, with no or only Kafka-esque reasoning. Today, as before none of Inner City Press' written questions, including on Cameroon, have been answered. This is a request that you immediately confirm receipt of these questions and requests. 

October 22-2: On Honduras on which you have refused to answer or respond to Inner City Press' questions on the US v Tony Hernandez trial and guilty verdict and has asked you why SG Guterres did not even bring up corruption and drug trafficking when he met president Juan Orlando Hernandez, 1) what are Guterres' belated comments and actions if any on the protests "calling for the departure of the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who they accuse of being a ringleader of drug trafficking networks, after a US court found his brother, Juan Antonio "Tony" Hernández guilty of drug trafficking; 2) please immediately describe activities of the UN system and resident coordinator / representative on JOH's current terms - specifically, provide the report produced by Marcie Mersky, Ana Catalina Soberanis, Mirna Cuenta and Javier Cabreja about which Inner City Press asked at the 8 Feb 2018 noon briefing before it was roughed up and banned from the UN, 475 days now -  and 3) what now are Guterres' belated comments and actions if any on that last night JOH's National Party majority in the Honduran parliament passed a law making itslef immune, and that Honduran police dispersed hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas on Wednesday in Tegucigalpa who demanded the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernandez, suspected by the American courts of collaborating with the drug traffickers?    

October 22-3: On China, what are the comments of SG Guterres and separately USG Lui on that    TikTok, the viral Chinese app that may live on your high school student’s phone, serves another devious purpose. It is a propaganda tool for the Chinese government.  Australian human rights activist and Uyghur Muslim Arslan Hidayat tweeted a video taken from TikTok which was allegedly posted to an official Chinese police account in the Zhangwan District, Shiyan City, Hubei Province. The video showed a man tied to a chair, while three Chinese police officers pointed at him. Hidayat claimed that the chair was a “torture device called a ‘Tiger Chair.’”  An image shared by Hidayat, appears to show that the police account was verified on TikTok 

October 22-4: On South Africa, xenophobia and unacted on demands for UN system action, what are the belated comments and actions if any of SG Guterres and separately USG Melissa Fleming on that a group of African refugees who have camped outside the UNHCR offices in South Africa's administrative capital of Pretoria, for the past three weeks, are pleading with the agency to "take them out" of the country. 

October 22-5: On Cambodia, what are the belated comments and actions if any of SG Guterres on that Among those arrested or jailed are:  Thoun Bunthorn, a former CNRP provincial council member in Rattanakiri and Ngin Sophat, a former CNRP district chief in the Rattanakiri town of Banglung were arrested on September 21, after they had expressed support on their Facebook accounts for the CNRP leadership’s return to Cambodia in November.

October 21-2: Since you have answered, and SG Guterres refused a question on October 19, please immediately state with whom Guterres was exiting the publicly funded mansion on October 19, to where, at what public cost? 

October 21-3: On Cameroon, what are the comments and actions if any on that a military raid has taken place in Bombe Bakundu in the South West region of the country with several civilians said to be hurt? Soldiers during the raid on the village are said to have opened fire on young boys taking them by surprise. Locals say about 7 were killed during the incident.

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 3-19: 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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