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On Comoros Banned Inner City Press Asked UN About Crackdown Now 1 UN Response Here

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

UNITED NATIONS GATE, April 2 – On Comoros, Inner City Press on March 29 asked the UN in writing, "March 29-6: On Comoros, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that four people died Thursday in a gunfight at a military camp in Comoros where police had detained an opposition presidential candidate?" Four days later on April 2, leaving many UN corruption questions unanswered, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq has sent a response to Inner City Press' Comoros question, which we publish in full: "On your question March 29-6, we have the following:     We are very concerned by reports of arrests and injuries that occurred since election day.  We recall that in his statement issued on 22 March, the Secretary-General underlined the importance of the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as of the professional and impartial conduct of law enforcement officials during the elections." Fine - but what about this?

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 1 more than two hours before a UN noon briefing in which Dujarric claimed, falsely, that "everything we see here is true," Inner City Press submitted 686 questions: "There are more than 300+ 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 (!) nor March 29. 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 1-1: On China, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that Wei Zhili, an editor of “New Generation” (xinshengdai) a website which monitors and reports about internall migrant workers in China, was taken away by police officers from his home in Shenzhen on 20 March 2019?

April 1-2: Given UN consultants' testimony to Inner City Press about being misled by the UN about their tax liabilities, and criticism of the UN for shirking responsibilities to its host countries and works, what IS the UN policy ont the (over) use of consultants to avoid paying benefits, specifically at UNOPS in Geneva about which Inner City Press has previously asked without answer, and now also in Bonn? 

April 1-3: On Zimbabwe, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that alleged supporters of the ruling Zimbabwe African Nationalist Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) were denying some cyclone survivors emergency aid, including food, because they were believed to support the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) political party? 

April 1-4: On Comoros, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that four people died Thursday in a gunfight at a military camp in Comoros where police had detained an opposition presidential candidate? 

April 1-5: On press freedom and Nigeria, what are the comments and actions if any of the SG and separately DSG Amina J. Mohammed to the the rearrest of Jones Abiri, a Bayelsa-based journalist.  Abiri was arrested on Saturday, months after he regained his freedom from illegal detention by the Department of State Services (DSS).  According to his lawyer, the Federal Ministry of Justice is set to arraign him for treasonable felony.  A statement by Deji Adeyanju, Convener of Concerned Nigerians, issued on Sunday, noted that Abiri’s rearrest is an “assault on press freedom”? 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.

March 29-1: On Nigeria, what are the comment and action of the SG and, separately, DSG Amina J Mohammed on that Federal High Court Thursday revoked the bail of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu and ordered his arrest? 

March 29-2: On FAO, Mr. Servan from FAO whom Inner City Press asked your about last year has apparently been subject to complaints by women attending an ICSC meeting in Geneva, with the issue been raised to the SG. Please confirm or deny and state what if anything the SG has done. 

March 29-3: On China and Xinjiang / Uighurs, what is the SG's comment and action if any on this account: "The alarm rings at 5am every morning in Yerzhan's overcrowded concrete cell. He dresses in a thin blue uniform before armed guards escort him to a bathroom, where he has minutes to wash under supervision.  At 7am there is breakfast: tea and a single steamed bun for each of the cell’s 18 inmates.  For the rest of the day, Yerzhan is forced to sit straight on a stool, learn Mandarin, sing patriotic songs and memorise ruling Communist Party ideology.   In order to receive a small portion of rice at noon and 6pm he, like all the others, must praise the Chinese president and shout “Long live Xi Jinping!”  Those who refuse are electrocuted with a cattle prod that causes their limbs to spasm uncontrollably"? 

March 29-5: On the Dominican Republic, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that police in the Dominican Republic routinely subject women sex workers to rape, beatings and verbal abuse, a new report has found? 

March 28-1: On Cameroon, what is the SG's comment and belated action, if any, on Biya's Army's attack on Abuh, North-West region, which burned an entire neighborhood to the ground.  A woman in her 40s said she spent three days hiding in the surrounding countryside with her five children after the attack: “When I came back to the village, my house was gone, with everything inside. I am left with nothing but my clothes.” How does this square with UNFPA's current propaganda trip to Yaounde? 

March 28-4: On Pakistan and press freedom, what is the SG's comment and action on that Pakistani authorities are investigating five prominent journalists and a blogger for displaying the photo of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s on social media during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Pakistan last month? 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.

March 27-6: On freedom of thought and expression and China, what is the SG's comment and action on the law professor at Tsinghua University who openly criticised Chinese President Xi Jinping has been suspended and placed under investigation by the university, according to one of his colleagues and several academics familiar with the situation. Xu Zhangrun, 56, was suspended this month after he wrote several articles criticising Beijing over political and social issues?  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.  

March 25-5: On your / Spokesperson Dujarric's recent podcast interview, please immediately explain what was meant by a relationship with journalists of "mutually assured destruction" - and why the podcast links are mostly 404/no longer online. 

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. 

More here.

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