By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October
31 --
After Bahrain
adjourned its
prosecution of
Nabeel Rajab
until mid
December, on
October 31 US
State
Department
spokesman John
Kirby said “At
today's
hearing it
became clear
that the
government
lacks evidence
to support the
case and so we
reject the
charges
against
Rajab.” Inner
City Press put
it on
Soundcloud,
here.
The UN under
outgoing
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon,
meanwhile, had
nothing to
say. This
has
been a
trend.
Amid
attacks on
journalists
and freedom of
expression in
countries all
over the
world, the
United Nations
under Ban
has
been no
sanctuary, nor
champion, the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
has found.
After
intermittent
attempts to
oust or hinder
Inner City
Press, in
February 2016
Ban's head of
Public
Information Cristina
Gallach had
Inner City
Press ousted
on two hours
notice,
its files
evicted in
April and its
long time
shared office
given to an
Egyptian state
media Akhbar
al Yom which
rarely comes
in, never asks
questions. SFRC
memo here.
Inner City
Press is
required to
have a minder
to cover
events on the
UN's second
floor. (The
US was asked,
in writing by
GAP and in person to the State Department
spokesman
John Kirby,
Vine,
and the Ambassador by
this
reporter,
but did
nothing.)
On January 20,
2015,
Inner City
Press on
behalf of the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
Bahrain
sentencing
Nabeel Rajab
to six months
in jail for a
single tweet.
Video
here.
Spokesman
Dujarric said
he expected a
statement on
that later in
the day --
three hours
later there
was none --
then cited the
right of
expression,
generally.
The
day before on
January 19,
Inner City
Press on
behalf of
FUNCA asked
Dujarric's
deputy Farhan
Haq about
Turkey having
ordered
Twitter,
Google and
Facebook to
remove content
by BirGun
about alleged
Erdogan
government
support to Al
Qaeda
affiliates in
Syria, and
threatening to
ban Twitter
entirely for
not taking
down the
BirGun feed.
Haq replied
vaguely about
the right to
circulate
information
but said he
would not
speculate
about the
future of
Twitter in
Turkey.
Video
here.
It is not
speculation:
earlier this
year Turkey
banned both
Twitter and
YouTube. The Erdogan
government has
made the same
(mis) use of
copyright
claims to censor
leaked
material as
Reuters at the
UN, here.
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