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As UN Bans Inner City Press E-Asks Spox Dujarric Of Benin Myanmar Cameroon Haysom Mansion Uganda Censorship 400+ UNanswered

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

UNITED NATIONS GATE, April 29 – 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 29 three hours before Dujarric held a UN noon briefing where he joked with his insiders and said there should be a reality show about them at UNCA, Inner City Press submitted 765 questions, including why it continues to be lawlessly banned from entering to ask questions in person: "There are more than 500+ 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, 3-26. 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 29-1: On Cameroon, what is the SG's comment and action if any on the killing of civilians including children by Paul Biya's arm in the SW village of Ikata on April 26? 

April 29-2: On the just-published Public Financial Disclosures for 2017, as a first question, please state why Nicholas Haysum is not even on the list. Did he decline to make any public disclosure? Why has Guterres changed the previous system in a which a "choosing not to disclose" statement was upload and listed, to one which helps conceal who reports and who does not?  Again, state why considering 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 was omitted from his online public financial disclosure covering 2016, and why Guterres has not even started an audit of CEFC in the UN. 

April 29-3: On Benin, scam elections and Internet shut downs, what is the SG's comment and action if any on  the Internet shutdown in Benin as the country holds parliamentary elections without opposition parties? 

April 29-4: Given the use of public money, please state who while the SG was in or en route back from China on Saturday April 27 was inside the Sutton Place mansion, why the limousine with diplomatic plates awaiting pulled twice into the cul de sac on Sutton Place, and who has access to this mansion when Mr. Guterres is away. 

April 29-5: On Myanmar, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that on April 22, Yangon’s Mayangone Township Court ordered five members of the Peacock Generation Thangyat troupe detained without bail for their satirical performance, traditionally performed during Myanmar’s April New Year holiday. Kay Khine Tun, Zayar Lwin, Paing Ye Thu, Paing Phyo Min, and Pho Thar were sent to Insein Prison on charges under penal code section 505(a), which makes it a crime to make any statement “with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, any officer, soldier, sailor or airman in the Army, Navy or Air Force to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in his duty as such.” They face up to two years in prison and a fine.  Police had previously arrested three of the five Peacock Generation members on April 15, along with another member Su Yadanar Myint, and charged them with violating section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law. The four, who had posted a livestream of their performance on Facebook that was then shared on YouTube, had been released on bail.  Up to 25 more members of the Peacock Generation Thangyat troupe have been reportedly sued under section 66(d) since April 23, but their names have not been released. The troupe members are to appear in court on April 29. 

April 29-6: On press freedom and Uganda, what is the SG's comment and action if any on the assault, by a Kampala court registrar no less, on journalists from Salt Media and Smart 24?  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 26-1: Now that SG Guterres has lavished praise on China's "Belt and Road" please 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 25-5: 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 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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