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UN Guterres At AU Very Polite To Egypt Sisi Nothing On Political Freedom or Censorship Birds of a Feather

By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFT Q&A

UNITED NATIONS GATE, February 9 – After the "election" of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as Egypt's president with 97% of the vote amid fining of media like Al-Masry Al-Youm and the expulsion of journalists, the spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on 2 April 2018 said, "We were not involved in the holding of the election, whether in observing or offering technical assistance as far as I know.  So, I will leave it at that." Now on February 9 from Addis Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric has issued this, nothing on press freedom or political prisoners: "On the margins of the African Union Summit, the Secretary-General met with the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, H.E. Mr. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. The Secretary-General congratulated Egypt for assuming the chairmanship of the African Union and noted the importance of continuing to strengthen the UN-AU partnership in the areas of peace, security, and development.    The Secretary-General and President Al-Sisi also discussed regional matters, including the implementation of the UN Action Plan in Libya.    Addis Ababa 9 February 2019   Stéphane Dujarric Spokesman for the Secretary-General." This is the same UN - and spokesman - which evicted independent Inner City Press (and now banned it after assaulting it on July 3, Fox News story here, GAP blogs I and II, and put in its work place Sissi's state media Akhbar al-Youm, in the form of Sanaa Youssef a former (1984) president of the UN Correspondents Association who hasn't asked a single question of the UN in more than ten years. On 17 August 2018 Guterres through Alison Smale banned Inner City Press for life; on August 27 his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said this was for "creating a hostile environment" for diplomats. Really? Now on 9 January 2019 an Egyptian court sentenced activist Ahmed Douma to 15 years in jail for allegedly "rioting" and attacking security forces in 2011. He was previously sentenced to three year in jail over separate charges of taking part in a 2013 demonstration in downtown Cairo.   The  court on Wednesday also ordered Douma to pay $336,000 for damages he was accused of during the protest outside the prime minister’s office in 2011. This is pure abuse. Inner City Press in writing asked Guterres, his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed and spokesman Stephane Dujarric: "January 11-5: On Egypt, what is the SG's comment and action on that a leading figure in Egypt's 2011 revolution was handed 15 years in prison on Wednesday after a retrial. Ahmed Douma was arrested in 2013 on charges of clashing with security forces in Cairo two years earlier, and received a 25-year prison sentence in 2015?" But there has been no answer at all, despite the promise of USG Alison Smale to UNSR David Kaye that such written questions would be answered.  Guterres says nothing: he too is an abuser, in his UN's new way. On September 25 Guterres met Sisi and afterward gushed, "The Secretary-General met with H.E. Mr. Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The Secretary-General and the President exchanged views on a number of issues of mutual interest, including developments in Africa and the Middle East region. The Secretary-General congratulated Egypt on a very effective chairmanship of the G77." Not a word on press freedom - not surprising, since Guterres as it turns out is a dictator on this too. In the 47th Street protest pens that day, supports of Morsi and Sisi shouted at each other, with Falun Dafa adherents meditating in between, along with a clown from Guatemala. Inside the UN Guterres has turned it into a circus - of censorship. On September 17 four UN rapporteurs for now publicly silent on the UN's own no due process censorship called on the Human Rights Council to respond to verdicts condemning 75 protesters to death and 47 to life sentences in Egypt. On 8 September, a Cairo Criminal Court confirmed the sentences delivered at a mass trial in July involving 739 people who were convicted on charges of illegal gathering, involvement in violence and incitement to break the law. The rights of the accused to present evidence in their defense were not guaranteed as required by the principle of fair trial.  The experts are Mr. Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Mr. Clément Nyaletsossi Voulé, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Mr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Ms Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Mr. Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.. And here's what they said: “As a matter of priority, the international community must act to ensure international human rights standards are applied." We agree. And what about the UN Secretariat? On September 9 still new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, to whom the above has been raised, issued this: "The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said today that she is extremely concerned that an Egyptian court’s confirmation of 75 death sentences on Saturday did not result from a fair trial, and the sentences, if carried out, would therefore amount to “a gross and irreversible miscarriage of justice”. She also pointed to the stark contrast between Egypt’s mass trials and a recent law that effectively grants members of the security forces complete immunity for crimes they may have committed. The death sentences were originally imposed during a mass trial in July in which a total of 739 people were convicted on charges that stemmed from a Muslim Brotherhood-led protest, in August 2013, which was met with a lethal military crackdown. “The conduct of the trial in the Cairo Criminal Court has been widely criticized,” Bachelet said. “And rightly so. The 739 people were tried en masse, and were not permitted individual legal representation before the court. In addition, the accused were not given the right to present evidence in their defence, and the Prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence to prove individual guilt. The evident disregard of basic rights of the accused places the guilt of all those convicted in serious doubt. In particular, the 75 death sentences affirmed yesterday, if implemented, would represent a gross and irreversible miscarriage of justice. “I hope that the Egyptian Court of Appeal will review this verdict and ensure that international standards of justice are respected by setting it aside,” she added.... In July this year, the Egyptian Parliament approved a law that will effectively bestow immunity from prosecution on security force personnel for any offenses committed in the course of duty between 3 July 2013 – the date the military overthrew the Government of  President Morsi – and 10 January 2016. The law permits the President to designate a number of officers as lifelong reserves, and grants them the immunities and privileges of a sitting Government minister, including diplomatic immunity when traveling abroad. “Justice must apply to all – no one should be immune." Yes. But doesn't that apply to Guterres who nominated her as well? We'll see. In in a small subset of that news, the five year jail sentence passed on Mahmoud Abdel Shakour Abou Zeid, the photojournalist also known as Shawkan, means he should soon be free because he has already spent five years in preventive detention. He was finally convicted at the end of a mass trial with more than 700 fellow defendants. All this for trying cover a massacre by the security forces in Cairo’s Rabaa Square on August 14, 2013 - as noted by a stated borderless freedom of the press group which has said nothing about the UN they love having roughed up and still banning Inner City Press, despite it being repeatedly raised in reply to Julie Bance. One can love the UN so much it becomes a double standard - we'll have more on this. In Egypt the “cybercrime law” that Sisi signed on August 18 legalizes and reinforces the existing censorship and blocking of websites and criminalizes both those who operate sites and those who use them, a group who has yet to act on UN censorship said. Under article 7 of this law, Egypt’s authorities can now legally block access to any website that is deemed to constitute “a threat to national security” or to the “national economy.” It legalizes a well-established practice. Hundreds of sites have already been blocked in the past few years, apparently on nothing more than the orders of security officials, and the authorities have arrested several online journalists and bloggers, including a news website editor and satirical bloggers. Even visiting a banned website is now punishable by a year in prison while those who create or manage a website that is subsequently banned could be sentenced to two years in prison. We'll have more on this - and this: Cairo national security prosecutor ordered Mohammed Ibrahim Ezz, a reporter for the daily newspaper Al-Nahar, to be detained for 15 days on charges of belonging to a banned group. Ezz was arrested in the city of Tanta, north of Cairo, on July 10; the prosecutor will look into renewing Ezz detention again on August 5. The latest arrest comes as photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, a/k/a Shawkan, is slated to appear in court to hear a possible verdict on July 28. Shawkan has been jailed since August 2013 and faces the death penalty. On July 18, Inner City Press banned from entering the UN unlike the no-question Sissi (retired) scribe Sanaa Youssef in writing asked Dujarric and his deputy Farhan Haq, "Given your belated answer yesterday on Saudi King Salman's immunity announcement, and your now stated policy, please provide comment today on this: “Senior military officers who oversaw the killing of hundreds of protesters in Egypt after the 2013 coup that brought President Sisi to power are to be given immunity from prosecution.'" To which Haq replied, "on Egypt, we reiterate our basic point:The United Nations does not endorse amnesties for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or gross violations of human rights." Is that why Guterres shook so heartily with Sissi, and gave Inner City Press' work space to Sissi's retiree? We'll have more on this.  On July 17 Inner City Press asked Haq and Dujarric, still UNanswered on July 18: “Egypt's parliament has approved a tough new law to regulate social media, raising fears that it could curb dissent against President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's regime. The law states that social media users who have more than 5,000 followers could be placed under the supervision of Egypt's Supreme Council for Media Regulations. The council would be authorized to suspend or block any personal account which "publishes or broadcasts fake news” - what is the comment of the SG / UN?" The noon briefing Inner City Press was banned from had few questions, none like this; seven hours later Haq had not provided any written answer or even confirmation of receipt. The UN under Guterres is failing. On July 7 the government behind Guterres' and Smale's favorite Akhbar al Yom sentenced a Lebanese woman to eight years in prison over "insulting Egyptians" by complaining of sexual harassment in a video she posted online, and set July 29 as the date for her appeal. Mona el-Mazbouh was charged with "deliberately broadcasting false rumors which aim to undermine society and attack religions." She posted a 10-minute video in which she used profanities to describe her vacation in Cairo where she says she was sexually harassed. The UN under Guterres, as Inner City Press first reported, rejected even a #MeToo club at its offices in Vienna. The Sissi government also pushed back the sentencing of photo journalist Shawkan or Mahmoud Abu Zeid and more than 700 others to July 28, while moving on a law to subject all social media accounts with more than 5000 followers to monitoring and immediate blocking for undefined "fake news." It is lawless - like Guterres' UN, which on June 22 deployed UN Security guards who refused to give them names while equipped with automatic weapons to oust Inner City Press from the UN during an Eid al Fitr event at which Guterres bragged about fasting in Mali. Video here, story here, new petition here. Earlier the Sisi government grabbed up Hazem Abdel-Azim, a critic since the government since he left Sissi’s campaign in the 2014 elections. Hazem Abdel-Azim was taken from his home in a Cairo suburb late Saturday on charges of disseminating fake news (!) and belonging to an outlawed group. This follows the detention of noted blogger Wael Abbas. Abbas was seized on accusations including disseminating false news and joining an outlawed group. He was taken blindfolded from his home to an unknown location and not allowed to contact his lawyer. His YouTube channel was shut in 2007, resulting in the removal of hundreds of videos depicting abuses by security forces. In December, he posted on Facebook that Twitter had suspended his account without providing any justification.
Last week they arrested labor rights lawyer
Haytham Mohamedeen for "belonging to an outlawed group." (In the UN, the Department of Public Information before evicting Inner City Press told it it would be ousted if it did not remove the sign of the Free UN Coalition for Access from the door of its past (and future?) office S-303, even as the neighboring door carried and carries Turkish government paraphernalia. That threat, from DPI's holdover Hua Jiang, cc-ed to holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric, is here). In 2016, Mohamedeen was arrested and later released over calling for protests against Egypt's transfer of two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. (When Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman on May 23 about Saudi detaining women's right activist, he spoke vaguely about space for civil society.) Apparently Sisi's Egypt is as much for sale as the UN, to Ng Lap Seng and more recently Patrick Ho and their mutual controller. An independent jury for a UNESCO prize awarded it to jailed Egyptian photo journalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid a/k/a Shawkan, about whom Inner City Press asked Amnesty International at the UN this month. The Egyptian government, needless to say, has criticized the award. This is the Sisi government to which Guterres sends his warm regards, and to whose state media Akhbar al Yom's Sanaa Youssef Guterres and his Global Communicator Alison Smale have purported to assign Inner City Press' long time work space in the UN. UNCA, the only claim to UN fame of Sanaa Youssef, has said nothing, bungling forward this April 23 with a 5 pm wine event for a novel seemingly entirely unrelated to the UN by
Elizabeth Strout, "at the event marking 'UN English Language Day', Ms. Strout will be joined by fiction writer Katherine Vaz and poet, Major Jackson... with a with a [sic] wine and cheese reception beginning at 5:00 pm." Then on April 24, ghoulishly an event in their clubhouse for a movement the UN's exclusion of which from the public UNSC stakeout UNCA, heavy with Moroccan state media, said nothing. We'll have more on this. On April 4, again with Akhbar al Youm's Saana Youssef nowhere in sight much less asking a question after a decade, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Dujarric, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: when you were asked about the 97 per cent election of President Sisi, you said, 'We were not involved in the holding of the election, whether in observing or technical assistance.  So, I'll leave it at that.' I wanted to ask you, since then, one, a newspaper, Al-Masry Al-Youm, has been fined for its independent coverage of the election.  And now a website, Masr al-Arabia, has been raided by the Government.  So, beyond your… what you said on Monday, do you believe that… that… that… that the way in which the press was disallowed from covering this cake-walk election complies with the principles of António Guterres and his open-press ways?

Spokesman:  I think the Secretary-General, in the run-up to the election, had expressed his concern at the limited political space in the country, and that is a concern we continue to have." Really. On April 5 it emerged that Egyptian prosecutors ordered the editor-in-chief of
Masr al-Arabia, Adel Sabry, be detained for 15 days pending investigations. A prosecutor in Cairo’s Dokki district accused Sabry of belonging to a terrorist group, publishing false news, using text and visuals that contradict the constitution, and inciting demonstrations, according to Eman Hamed, the defendant’s lawyer. This is what today's UN is siding with, in the form of former UNCA President Sanaa Youssef of Egyptian state media. Back on February 28 when Guterres met Egypt's new Ambassador Mohamed Fathi Ahmed Edrees on February 28, Inner City Press went through the UN's tourist entrance and then UN Security on the 37th floor to cover it. Still, before Guterres expressed his warm regards for Sisi, who is arresting all opponents, the UN Security officer who has already checked Inner City Press' microphone told it it could not record audio, see below. Now on March 8, Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric about Sisi's government seeking the death penalty against photo journalist Shawkan, as relates to Guterres warm regards. From the UN transcript: Inner City Press:  it was pretty… pretty recently that the Secretary-General sent his very, very warm regards to President [Abdelfattah al] Sisi of Egypt, and so, in that re… in that connection, I wanted to ask you, the noted photographer, Mahmoud Abou Zeid, also known as Shawkan, has now been informed that he faces the death penalty.  He's been in jail for four and a half years.  It's kind of a cause célèbre.  And I wondered if the Secretary-General, who has these warm feelings, is this something he might have a comment on, a photojournalist being… facing the death by hanging? Spokesman:  I will check on that particular case.  The Secretary-General stands firmly against the death penalty.  And as for questions of the ongoing climate in Egypt, I think I answered that to Masood two days ago, and my answer stands." Masood-ji, Dujarric's straight man for justification of eviction of the Press, video here. This is censorship, and it remains ongoing - they have not answered a petition with thousands of signatures. Meanwhile Guterres and his Global Communicator Alison Smale have purported to assign Inner City Press' long time UN work space to Sisi's no show state media, Sanaa Youssef of Akhbar al Yom. We'll have more on this. Six days before when Guterres met Ecuador's Vice President María Alejandra Vicuña on February 22 it was supposed to be at 11:50 am. But another Inner City Press arrived half an hour before, by the time it was allowed in at 11:44 am the meeting was already underway. There was no handshake, and  the Press was quickly ushered out. With Guterres was a single UN staffer: Katrin Hett. On the elevator down from the 38th floor, UN Department of Political Affairs deputy Miroslav Jenca was just arriving, and UN Photo missed the shot again. This is a pattern. The evening before on February 21 when Guterres met Cote d'Ivoire foreign minister Marcel Amon-Tanoh on February 21, Guterres changed the time twice. First from 5 pm to 6:40 pm - for this, notice was provided - and then without notice moving it up to 6:34 pm such that both the Ivorian photographer and even UN Photo missed it. It seems Guterres is only interested in accommodating those who can help him - he has been happy, for example, to have the investigative Press restricted for his entire tenure, with no explanation of what the rules are. No show state media in, investigative press, through the tourist entrance, minders required. This is "Big Tony's" United Nations, do as I say, not as I do. Big shots are getting over with sexual harassment, while directives go to underlings. The Global Communicator Alison Smale, censor in chief, is involved. At the February 21, restricted Inner City Press was the only media which asked any questions, on Justin Forsyth multiple abuser, now at UNICEF, about mis-statements about immunity in India, another no-answer on Tanzania. The only media asking, and the only media restricted by Guterres and Smale. We'll have more on this. Amon-Tanoh, by the way, spoke well in the Security Council, before having the time(s) changed. Present on the UN side were Katrin Hett and Khassim Diagne, who's said Paul Biya is doing a good job in Cameroon - when Biya's been in Geneva for four and a half years, cumulatively. We'll have more on this. Back on February 2 when Guterres before his multiple junkets met Qatar's Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, he had with him his outgoing head of Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman. (Inner City Press exclusively reported on January 25, in connection with Feltman's US replacement in the post, Dina Powell, here. Now some say Powell turned the post down, as so many have, under Big Tony.) The Qatari minister joked that his Ambassador told him Feltman was back from an interesting place - presumably a reference to North Korea, where Feltman wants to score Guterres a high level meeting, perhaps with Kim Jong Un, in connection with having accepted as a UN Junior Professional Officer in his Department the son of a DPRK Workers Party official. Even before Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani had finished signing the UN visitors' book, Guterres was indicating that the Press should leave, saying Shukran, presumably to the two traveling Qatar photographer and videographer. Earlier in the day Guterres refused Inner City Press' question if he told the International Criminal Court in advance of his meeting last weekend with Darfur genocide indictee Omar al Bashir. Qatar has played a role in Darfur but the topics with Guterres and Feltman would predictably involve the Gulf and the blockade. While Guterres issues fewer and fewer read-outs, will Qatar? On February 1 when Guterres met Guatemala's Foreign Minister Sandra Erica Jovel Polanco, there was a pre-meeting in Guterres' office including, Inner City Press witnessed, head UN lawyer Miguel de Serpa Soares. While Guterres gives fewer and fewer read-out, and even left his meeting with Darfur genocide ICC indictee Omar al Bashir last weekend undisclosed until Inner City Press asked about it, one assumes on the agenda was the stand-off with President Jimmy Morales about the CICIG, see August story here. But while awaiting the Guatemala read-out there is another question: when did Guterres tell Miguel de Serpa Soares' OLA about meeting with indictee Bashir, and when did Miguel de Serpa Soares tell the Office of the ICC prosecutor? Inner City Press has asked the UN, without substantive answer - just as specific detailed questions to Guterres, his chief of staff, deputy and "Global Communicator" Alison Smale have gone entirely unanswered. (Inner City Press checked with Smale's DPI just before the Guatemala photo op). We'll have more on this. The day before on January 31 when Guterres met his native Portugal's Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security José António Vieira da Silva, he quickly ushered him into his office, where he had been laughing with his staffers including Miguel Graca. José António Vieira da Silva is linked to a Portuguese inquiry into irregularities in the payment and reimbursement for travel; Guterres himself often travels to Lisbon, not disclosed by his spokesmen unless Inner City Press asks, and costs for example of accompanying security undisclosed. But while Correio da Manhã reports on the inquiry by the National Anti-Corruption Unit into if Rareissimas money was used for the travel of Sónia Fertuzinhos to Sweden, that publication is not targeted by the Portuguese government, much less required to have minders. In Guterres' UN, while Inner City Press investigates the scandals of bribery by Patrick Ho and CEFC China Energy, rosewood signatures by Guterres' Deputy Amina J. Mohammed and diversion of Kiswahili funds by Guterre's "Global Communicator" alleged by staff she is firing, Inner City Press is confined ot minders and cannot use its long time UN work space, purportedly assigned to an Egyptian state media which has yet to ask a single question and rarely comes in. It is not known if Guterres wanted to be a censor when he was Prime Minister of Portugul. But atop the UN, he seemingly happily presides over censorship and the targeting and restriction of investigative Press. A petition, here, was sent last week to Guterres, Mohammed and Smale, none of whom have as requested confirmed receipt, much less responded. Alamy photos here; UN Photo was not present. We note that Guterres over the weekend met Darfur genocide indictee Omar al Bashir and did not disclose it until Inner City Press asked, has still refused to say if the ICC Prosecutor was told in advance, as required. Guterres accepted a golden statue from Cameroon's 35 year president in October, and has yet to comment on Biya's role in the "refoulement" of 47 people from Nigeria. We'll have more on this. On January 30 when Guterres formally accepted the credentials of China's new Permanent Representative Ma Zhaoxu, he had his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed with him, and his spokesman on the way. In the run-up, Mohammed told UN Political Affairs official Miroslav Jenca she'd seen news of his trip to Lebanon and gravely cited economics. She praised Ma Zhhaoxu, saying she'd met him in Geneva on health. Then Guterres joked in the hall about charging $1000 dollars, before consenting to the credentials ceremony, Periscope video here. Alamy photos here. The Press was ushered out - earlier, Mohammed had refused an Inner City Press question about Cameroon - and at the elevator, there was UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who explicitly refused to get an answer from Guterres about legal compliance. We'll have more on this.

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