UN
Abuses Hartmann
at ICTY As
Ousted ICP Jan
29 & March
10, Ban's UN
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
26 -- It seems
UN Security is
given no
training on
non-abusive
treatment, of
the press or
anyone else.
In New York on
January 29,
eight UN
guards under
the command of
DSS Deputy
Chief Michael
McNulty threw
Inner City
Press onto
First Avenue,
its laptop on
the sidewalk.
Audio
here.
On March
10, Sargent
Clyde ordered
Inner City
Press out of
the UN at 8
pm, again out
into First
Avenue, in
contradiction
with the UN's
own Access
Guidelines. Video here.
In fairness to
DSS, behind
each of these
was the
lawless
February 19
order by Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach, and
beyond her
powers higher
and lower in
the UN,
including
potty-mouthed
UNCA boss
Giampaolo
Pioli, who on
March 24 came
to the UN
Security
Council
stakeout with
the sole
purpose of
cursing at
Inner City
Press. Audio
here. The
UN has yet to
do anything.
On March
24, after UN
Security at
the ICTY
roughed up
former Le
Monde
journalist and
ICTY
spokesperson
Florence
Hartmann,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
Deputy
Spokesperson,
on before of
the Free UN
Coalition for
Access, to
explain, from
the UN
transcript:
Inner City
Press: in the
ICTY case,
there was also
a detention or
arrest, of the
former
spokesperson
of the ICTY,
Florence
Hartmann,
who's a former
journalist.
And it's
described she
was physically
detained by,
they said
blue-shirted.
I'm not sure
if it's the UN
court or who
it was.
Are you aware
of this
detention of
Ms. Hartmann
and what's
behind it?
Deputy
Spokesman
Haq: I
am aware of
the
reports.
Ultimately, I
think that's a
question for
the ICTY… if
that's an
action that
they have
taken, they
would need to
explain what
the reasoning
is behind it.
Inner City
Press:
Who provides
security
there?
Is it the
UNDSS
[Department of
Safety and
Security] or
is it some
separate
entity?
Deputy
Spokesman:
Well, like I
said,
ultimately,
though, this
is proceedings
at the ICTY,
so you'd need
to talk with
them.
But
look at this
France 24
photo,
along with a
report of
abusive
lights-on
suicide watch.
Does today's
UN have any
respect for
the rights of
critics,
journalistic
or otherwise?
This has
proven false:
Inner City
Press has been
Banned from
covering
meetings on
Security
Council
reform, Next
SG selection,
Sri Lanka and
Western
Sahara, to
name a few.
But this
lawless
attempt to
seize Inner
City Press'
long time
office and
files is
illegitimate.
Consider for
example that
one of the
UNCA board
members, used
by Dujarric
for a
shameless
colloquy about
Inner City
Press'
accreditation
status on the
day Inner City
Press was told
it was Banned
from all UN
premises,
barely if at
all writes any
articles: on
the website of
Pakistan's Daily Dawn it
says, "Could
Not Find That
Page."
So if
Inner City
Press like him
did nothing,
wrote nothing,
merely
collaborated
with the UN in
attacking more
active and
less
cooperative
journalists,
it too could
continue with
an office in
Gallach's
corrupt UN
system.
Under
Gallach,
tellingly,
South South
News which was
exposed as
corrupt at
latest in
October --
when Inner
City Press questioned Gallach, on
October 19,
video here,
as has been
timely raised
to the UN
Ethics Office,
she should
have recused
herself -- has
been left with
office space,
while Inner
City Press
which most
actively
pursues the UN
corruption
story in order
to try to
clean up and
improve the UN
is ousted.
Well,
no. Beyond
further
exploration of
the links of
South South
News and the
indicted with
the UN
including
Gallach's
Department of
Public
Information,
which she is
bringing low,
it is time to
explore "what
it takes" in
her system to
retain office
space awarded
under her
predecessors.
It will be, to
coin a phrase,
a new (Daily)
Dawn.
On Wall
Street, seats
with Ban sold
for $6,000;
Bans and
Pioli, at
right, credit
UN
Photo/Amanda
Voisard
And if being
where a
journalist
supposedly
should be is
the pretext to
oust Inner
City Press
without due
process, what
about those
UNCA board
members
including but
not limited to
Pioli who have
routinely been
allowed by the
UN to slouch
and parade
around the
so-called
Turkish
Lounge, where
the published
rules say they
should only go
when invited
by a diplomat?
We'll have
more on all
this. Watch
this site.
When Inner
City Press
came to the UN
on February
22, with
another
journalist
there to sign
Inner City
Press in as a
guest, UN
Security said,
“You are
Banned from
the UN.”
Audio
here.
Inner
City Press
left the UN
pass office,
and set up
shop in the
Isaiah
plowshares
park across
from the UN.
Several
Permanent
Representatives,
at least two
Under
Secretaries
General (the
same rank as
Gallach) and
many staff
came to
express
outrage at the
UN's
censorship.
But in
the UN Press
Briefing Room,
which was
"lent" to the
UN
Correspondents
(or
Corruption)
Association
back on
January 29,
the reaction
was different.
In an
embarrassing
colloquy, long
time UNCA
board member
and Daily
Dawn-er Masood
Haider asked
Spokesman
Dujarric about
"the blogger
Matthew Lee"
who has been
"spewing on
the Internet
reports
whether false
or not." Vine
here; Video here; UN
transcript
here:
UNCA
Question:
Stéphane, can
you please
tell us about
the blogger,
Mr. Matthew
Lee, who has
been very
active on the
internet
spewing all
kinds of
reports,
whether false
or not?
What is the
status now?
Spokesman:
Mr. Lee has
available to
him a
non-resident
pass for four
months and
which, last I
heard, he had
not claimed,
but that's
what he has
available.
I know there
were reports
that we had
“seized his
files”.
Completely
untrue.
His office
remains
untouched.
And we await
him to return
so he can
vacate his
office.
Thank you.
Yeah -
thank you for
the set-up
question to
put propaganda
in to the UN
record.
On February 19
Inner City
Press asked to
get its
passport and
most important
files but was
pushed out
onto First
Avenue by UN
Security
Deputy Chief
Michael
McNulty
without
either. That's
not seized?
That's OK?
And the
extortionate
offer - no
access unless
with much
reduced rights
- is entirely
disproportionate
to the
non-existent
"crimes,"
which was to
seek to cover
an event in
this same UN
Press Briefing
Room, by UNCA
which took
money from
indicted Ng
Lap Seng's and
Frank
Lorenzo's
South South
News then gave
Ng Lap Seng a
photo op with
Ban Ki-moon.
UNCA
President
Giampaolo was
there, leaving
first from the
February 22
Press-less
press
conference;
another UNCA
board member
slapped
Dujarric on
the back.
Great job!
Bloggers are,
of course,
hacked to
death in
Bangladesh, a
country on
whose free
press record
USG Gallach
never even
replied to a
detailed email
from the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
for protection
for a
Bangladeshi
journalist
then in the
UN. Spewing
indeed.
Dujarric
took the
opportunity to
deny that the
UN had seized
Inner City
Press' files
-- the reality
is, when Inner
City Press
asked on
February 19 to
take the most
important of
them, and its
passport, it
was denied by
UN Security.
On February
22, UN
Security said
Inner City
Press is
Banned from
all UN
premises.
Dujarric said,
as if it's ok,
that Inner
City Press is
being
"offered" much
reduced
access, for
four months.
But Inner City
Press did
nothing wrong,
and the
"investigation"
by Gallach
which led to
its ouster did
not involve a
single
conversation
with or
reaching out
to Inner City
Press.
Any
reduced access
to loss of
office space
-- which
Masood Haider,
who hardly
writes
articles, has,
and UNCA
President
Giampaolo
Pioli has, a
private
office, while
writing about
Morgan Freeman
-- is unfair
and is to cast
a chill of
freedom of the
press. No
staged
colloquy can
hide that.
We'll have
more on this.
Later,
after being
told to leave
even the UN
Pass office, a
UN Under
Secretary
General told
Inner City
Press Gallach
had told other
USGs that
Inner City
Press was in
fact in the
building -
that AFTER
Inner City
Press was told
by UN
Security,
twice, that it
is banned from
all UN
premises and
was told to
leave the UN
Pass office.
Gallach, and
Ban Ki-moon
and his chief
of staff
Edmond Mulet
to whom Inner
City Press
wrote on
February 19,
still without
response, has
received a
legal letter
with a
"demand that
Mr. Lee be
immediately
reissued with
the resident
correspondent
accreditation
that he has
enjoyed for
many
years. I
request these
remedies
pending an
examination of
the entire
matter by the
Special
Rapporteur on
the promotion
and protection
of the right
to freedom of
opinion and
expression or
by any other
mutually
agreed and
independent
review
mechanism.
In reaching
the decision
to
perfunctorily
revoke Mr.
Lee’s resident
correspondent
accreditation,
a number of
accepted
principles of
natural
justice and
rules of
administrative
law were
breached.
These
principles
include, inter
alia, the
right to be
informed
before the
imposition of
administrative
measures, the
right to make
representations
before being
subjected to
those measures
and the right
to appellate
review of such
measures. Mr.
Lee was denied
all of these
procedural
safeguards
which are
commonplace in
most
democratic
societies and
which are
routinely
vaunted by the
United Nations
itself."
As Inner
City Press
sits in the
park across
from the UN
using its
phone as a hot
spot -- hence
no Periscope
-- there has
been no
response.
Ban
Ki-moon's
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric,
who'd also
told those who
questioned him
that Inner
City Press
could end and
cover “his”
briefing on
Monday.
False.
UN Security
then said, you
cannot wait in
the pass
office, you
are banned
from all UN
premises.
Trying to
cover the UN
Security
Council
meeting on
Syria from the
Isaiah
plowshares
park across
from the UN,
various
Ambassadors
came to say
they were
appalled. But
Gallach's
office has
told then,
nothing will
be done.
This is
disgusting
censorship by
an
increasingly
corrupt UN.
As Inner City
Press at the
UN pursues
unfolding
stories of
corruption,
peacekeepers
committing
rapes in the
Central
African
Republic, UN
inaction in
Burundi, South
Sudan and
Yemen, on
February 19
with two hours
notice UN
Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach
ordered Inner
City Press to
be ousted. Letter here.
On the evening
of February
19, UN
Security
Deputy Chief
Michael
McNulty, who
refused to
provide his
name (audio),
pushed Inner
City Press out
onto First
Avenue (audio),
having cut off
its Periscope
video
livestream (video) and not allowed it to get
its files,
coat or
passport from
its longtime
shared office.
Gallach wants
the office
back, to
retaliate and
so the UN
Correspondents
Association
can, in
essence, sell
the UN space
just as it
sells access
to Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
On
February 20,
Inner City
Press posed
four questions
to Dujarric
and his deputy
Farhan Haq,
with a copy to
Gallach
--which 24
hours later
have not been
answered or
even
acknowledged
(while both
Dujarric and
Gallach were
wildly
spinning to
those who
contacted
them,
including Nobel
Laureate Jose
Ramos Horta,
see here,
who was told
there was no
problem taking
over Inner
City Press'
office and
undermining
its ability to
report, edit
videos,
conduct
interviews.
There is a big
problem. Here
are the
questions:
"Please state
the status and
condition of
all of my
papers and
property in my
office, Room
S-303A,
including
investigative
papers,
communications
from sources
including
whistleblowers
and my
passport and
when I will
have the
access to them
that I was
denied on
February 19
and since.
Please state
when the
Resident
Correspondent
UN pass I have
had for years,
but which was
torn off my
neck on Feb
19, will be
returned, in
connection
with 1, above,
and the UNSC
meeting(s) and
UN Noon
Briefing on
Monday
February 22.
Please state
and explain
the role of
the Office of
the
Spokesperson
of the
Secretary
General in the
deprivations
in 1 and 2,
above.
Finally, for
now, please
state the
Secretary-General's
position on UN
Security
Deputy McNulty
on February 19
threatening
twice to have
me “handed
over to NYPD”
(including the
concomitant
acceptance by
the UN of the
NYPD's
jurisdiction),
of UN Security
officers
grabbing my
phone which
was
live-broadcasting
Periscope
video at the
UN Security
Council
stakeout and
turning it
off.
I have other
questions but
these are most
pressing, for
immediate
answer."
And as
yet, no
answer. Watch
this site.
While
Inner City
Press was
writing up a
UN Security
Council
meeting on
Syria that
went into the
evening, and
Periscope
broadcasting,
UN Security
guards walked
up, grabbed
Inner City
Press' laptop,
blocked its
Periscope
camera and
turned off the
livestream. Video here.
Then
eight UN
Security
officers led
by Deputy
Chief McNulty
tore off Inner
City Press' UN
ID badge and
carted off
Inner City
Press' laptop
and camera,
returning
these by
throwing them
on the
sidewalk of
First Avenue.
Audio
here.
They did
not allow
Inner City
Press to get
coat or
sweater, or
the files in
its office. No
provision was
made for this.
The
ejection
letter was
signed by the
Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Galach of
Spain but
ultimately
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon is in
charge. Ban
and his chief
of staff
Edmond Mulet
and Deputy SG
Jan Eliasson
were all
written to
with details
as this took
place.
When
Inner City
Press was
thrown out
onto First
Avenue,
standing
waiting,
laughing and
filming, was
Voice of
America's
Margaret
Besheer and
another board
member of the
UN
Correspondents
Association,
whose
president
Giampaoli
Pioli told
Inner City
Press if it
didn't remove
a (truthful)
article about
his screening
of a war
crimes denial
film for a
tenant of his,
Sri Lanka's
then
ambassador
Palitha
Kohona, he
would get
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN.
But who
is running
this asylum?
Ban Ki-moon,
his spokesman
also involved
Stephane
Dujarric (who
threw Inner
City Press out
of the UN
Press Briefing
Room on
January 29,
also trying to
turn off ICP's
Periscoping
phone), and,
some surmise,
some who don't
like Inner
City Press'
questions.
We'll have
more on this.
The
pretext was
Inner City
Press three
weeks earlier
seeking to
cover a
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
by an
organization
which has
taken money
from now
indicted Ng
Lap Seng and
Frank
Lorenzo's
South SOuth
News, then
gave Ng Lap
Seng a photo
op with Ban.
(As Inner City
Press
reported,
Gallach
attended the
South South
Awards with
Frank Lorenzo,
photo
here, just
before his
indictment.
She should
have been
recused from
any
decision-making
on this.)
, 
