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As UN Bans Inner City Press E-Asks Spox Dujarric Of SG China Corruption HK Cameroon CAR Mozambique Japan SG Censorship 400+ UNanswered

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

UNITED NATIONS GATE, April 25 – 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 25 more than two hours before Dujarric held a UN noon briefing where he called China's Belt and Road Initiative "harmonious" and no one allowed into the briefing asked about the BRI bribes of CEFC including its attempt to buy the oil company of Gulbenkian Foundation which has paid Guterres, Inner City Press submitted 754 questions, including why it continues to be lawlessly banned from entering to ask questions in person: "There are more than 400+ 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 (!) And now April 1, 3-24. 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 25-1: Now that SG Guterres is lavishing praise on China's "Belt and Road" please immediately provide the full transcript of Guterres' "interview with Chinese journalists" from which this propaganda came out: "UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that the Belt and Road Initiative is a "very important opportunity" to the world. With such a huge volume of investment for international cooperation as the Belt and Road Initiative, it is a "very important opportunity for enhancing the capacity to implement the sustainable development goals and an important opportunity to launch green perspectives in the years to come," Guterres said during an interview with Chinese journalists at the UN headquarters before leaving for the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. (Xinhua)." Immediately state how many staff of Xinhua and other Chinese state media the UN DPI/DGC has granted accreditation to to currently enter the UN. 

April 25-2: Immediately state how much Guterres and team's trip to China is costing, the size and composition of the UN delegation, and who is paying for it (given that even the PGA now discloses this information).  Again, state whether after 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 (omitted from his online public financial disclosure covering 2016), he intends to raise corruption and UN bribery issues with China. 

April 25-3: Also on China what is the SG's comment and action if any on that four of the nine democracy leaders found guilty over Hong Kong’s 2014 Occupy protests were jailed for up to 16 months on Wednesday for their roles in the biggest civil disobedience movement in the city’s history? What is Guterres' response to this op-ed in (his partner's / funder's) Bloomberg: "There are a lot of people in the world who can plausibly claim ignorance of China’s foul campaign against its Muslim minority, but UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is not among them. And yet Guterres is acting as if it’s business as usual with China. […] And there is a risk that Guterres’s appearance at the Belt and Road forum will lend a powerful rogue nation some unearned legitimacy"? 

April 25-4: On impunity and the Central African Republic, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that on March 24, a presidential decree named the armed groups leaders Ali Darassa, leader of the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (Unité pour la paix en Centrafrique, UPC), Mahamat Al Khatim, leader of the Central African Patriotic Movement (Mouvement patriotique pour la Centrafrique, MPC), and Sidiki Abass (also known as Bi Sidi Souleymane), commander of a group called Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation, or 3R, as special military advisers to the prime minister’s office>All three have led armed groups responsible for widespread atrocities in recent years, including war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. These posts were granted as a concession to the armed groups under a peace accord signed in February 2019 in Khartoum, Sudan. 

April 25-5: On Mozambique what is the SG's comment and action if any on the sexual exploitation of Cyclone Idai victims by local officials, some linked to the ruling Frelimo party, demanding money from people affected by the cyclone in exchange for including their names on the aid distribution list? In some cases, women without money were instead coerced into engaging in sex with local leaders in exchange for a bag of rice. Again, where is the if-asked information on all the new UN sexual exploitation and abuse cases so far only partially disclosed? 

April 25-6: On freedom of the press and Japan, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that a Japanese journalist known for covering war zones Kosuke Tsuneoka sued the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday after it invalidated his passport and demanded he surrender it, saying it deprived him of his right to travel and restricted press freedom?  What is each of yours - particularly the SG's - response to the letter written and sent by Burundi activist Manisha Lievin? To the April 15 letter to the SG, DSG and USG Smale for which receipt has not even been acknowledged, other than a single lawless line from MALU: "Your media accreditation request, with reference no: M66561081, has been declined"? 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 Smale haven't even confirmed receipt of the April 15 letter much less responded, for reconsideration. 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.

April 24-3: In Cameroon, what is the role of the UN in propping up ELECAM even as non violent opponents of Paul Biya are jailed? What has the SG done about that, after he took the golden statue in Yaounde and met about Budget Committee favors repeatedly with Biya Ambassador Tommo Monthe? 

April 23-3: On Iran and human rights, what is SG Guterres' comment and action on the reiteration of the 13-year prison sentence of human rights attorney Mohammad Najafi who was jailed in 2018 after voicing support for people detained during anti-government protests? Najafi was sentenced in December to 10 years for “conveying information to a hostile country” through interviews with foreign media, two years for insulting the supreme leader and one year for publicly supporting opposition groups.  Mohammad Najafi had been imprisoned since October 28, 2018, for informing media outlets about the suspicious case of Vahid Heydari, 22, who died in detention at the 12th Police Station in Arak. That on April 16, 2019, Branch 2 of the Prosecutor’s Office in Tehran’s Evin prison issued an indictment against Amir Salar Davoudi on charges of “cooperating with hostile governments"? 

April 22-5: What is the status of OIOS head Heidi Mendoza? Is she still on medical leave, despite having flown to New York for an event at the Filipino consulate? 

April 4-2: On UN bribery and censorship, what now is the SG's comment and response to the April 3article in Serbia about CEFC which Mr Guterres has refused to audit - and about his refusal to answer, and censorship of Press "Gutereš had and had his own financial link with the CEFC, through the Gulbenkian Foundation. On the orders of Guteres, on June 22 and July 3, 2018, the security came to me, and I was banned from reporting from the UN. In fact, Gutereš took advantage of his security from the UN to distance me from his speech at the Park East Synagogue, and recently physically stopped me while he entered the mosque in 96th Street"  and now this  - "Patrick Ho, a businessman who was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in the world's corrupting affair, claims investigative journalist Matthew Russell Li in the documentary "Hong Kong Connection, Patrick Ho's List." Li, in a documentary broadcast on the Hong Kong Radio-Television portal, revealed Jeremic's role in this affair, a tens of millions of dollars, as well as his private dilutes, which he made while serving as the chairman of the United Nations General Assembly.  - Jeremic's testimony at the Ho trial was problematic because he turned out to be working for "CEFC Energy" (a Chinese conglomerate led by Ho, prim. Aut.) While serving as the chairman of the UN General Assembly. He took their money, exchanged e-mails with them ... He did many things. It is surprising to me that the focus of the prosecution was at Ho. The prosecutors used his testimony to show how Ho established a relationship, and in fact what Jeremic was doing might be worse for the public - Li said.  Investigative reporters also uncovered the flows of money flowing to Jeremic's accounts. Hoov CEFC paid Jeremic as a consultant a total of $ 5.3 million. It turns out that some companies that paid this money are completely phantom, because they do not exist at the registered addresses at all."  As always, what is the process of appealing or getting a hearing on the now 274 day ban amid this questions, or process to reapply which was denied summarily on 2 January 2019? How is this not censorship?)  and the translated 22 minute documentary about Patrick Ho and CEFC's bribes through the UN including Mr. Guterres' refusal to answer Inner City Press' question on it on 5 December 2018, and that Inner City Press for allegedly not complying with interview "rules" has been disqualified from reporting within the UN?  Again, the  sentencing memorandum includes quotes from his e-mails regarding aiming to violate sanctions and deal in arms not only to Chad but also South Sudan, Libya & Qatar. What is the SG's comment and action? Again, why has no audit even been begun of CEFC, at least like the one Mr. Guterres' predecessor did of Ng Lap Seng's Sun Kian Ip Foundation? Why did Mr Guterres omit payments from Gulbenkian Foundation, which sought to sell its oil company Partex to CEFC China Energy, from his public financial disclosure covering 2016? Where are the more recent public financial disclosures - has Mr. Guterres ended that program? Why? 

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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