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

UN GATE, Dec 18 – Inner City Press on 5 July 2018 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' Department of Global Communication issued a letter banning Inner City Press from the UN - for life. With no due process.

Guterres has put the UN in the US Press Freedom Tracker, here. The head of the UN Department of Global Communications said, again, that the UN would answer Press questions to the Spokesman Stephane Dujarric and his Office; Dujarric said the same on camera. On December 18 five hours before a noon briefing by Spokesman Stephane "French Whine" Dujarric when he spun Guterres junket in Italy, whose goal is maximum stop over in Lisbon, after the July 26 noon briefing had no questions at all, video here, Inner City Press submitted 1406 questions, including why it continues to be lawlessly banned from entering to ask questions in person: "There are more than 900+ questions UNanswered. Just recently, Nov 1-11, 13-29, Dec 2-16 many questions. No answers at all during the four days of the US v Ho trial showing corruption in the UN says it all; no answers during the Honduras narco-president trial while UN bragged about taking his money, nor on OneCoin. 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.

December 18-1: On Cameroon on which you have refused to answer banned Inner City Press' questions what are the comments and actions if any of SG Guterres on that three Cameroonian academics are in hospital after police beat them up at a protest in the capital, Yaoundé.  Another protester, a 45-year-old woman, reportedly took poison and was rushed to hospital.  They were part of a group of approximately 200 PhD holders who were protesting against missing out on jobs at state universities.  The academics said they had been volunteering in state universities for years. 

December 18-2: On Burundi, what are the belated comments and actions if any of SG Guterres on that "As of November 26, 2019, the collectors of these funds in collaboration with young people Imbonerakure had erected barriers on all of Cankuzo's main roads to demand payment. At the beginning of this year, the local organization ADIC and PAM [WFP] had proposed to local authorities to grant them permission to rehabilitate these roads by the "Cash for Work" system, but they imposed conditions that were impossible for them to fill. These organizations had opted to rehabilitate only the roads of the commune Gisagara and Cendajuru."  

December 18-3: On Honduras on which you have refused all of banned Inner City Press' questions despite SG Guterres' having met with and praised presumptively narco president JOH, after sending a four person panel to help me, what now is Guterres' belated comment and action if any on that in the SDNY in New York, AMADO BELTRAN BELTRAN, a/k/a “Don Amado,” OTTO RENE SALGUERO MORALES, a/k/a “Otto Salguero,” RONALD ENRIQUE SALGUERO PORTILLO, a/k/a “Ronald Salguero,” and FERNANDO FELIX RODRIGUEZ, a/k/a “Don Fernando,” have been charged in a Superseding Indictment with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and related weapons offenses involving the use and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.  Beginning in at least approximately 2004, BELTRAN BELTRAN, SALGUERO MORALES, SALGUERO PORTILLO, and FELIX RODRIGUEZ worked together and with others – including, at times, former Honduran congressman Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado, a/k/a “Tony Hernandez,” and the leadership of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel – to transport large shipments of cocaine. And JOH? 

December 18-4: On Egypt, and Italy where he is today, what are SG Guterres comments and actions if any on that Italian prosecutors have accused Egyptian officials of deliberately trying to mislead the investigation into student Giulio Regeni's death.  Regeni, a postgraduate student at the University of Cambridge, was doing research for his doctorate in Cairo when he went missing in January 2016.  His body was found nine days later.  Prosecutors said Egypt's claims about how Regeni died were later either contradicted by a postmortem carried out in Italy, or were debunked.  Prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco was addressing the first session of a parliamentary commission set up to look into whether Regeni was the focus of scrutiny by security forces in Egypt before his death. 

December 18-5: AGAIN on UN sexual exploitation and abuse - alleged - this is another request that you immediately provide the "if asked" information about the new (Dec 9) sex abuse cases in CAR by Gabon, DRC and Morocco UN "peacekeepers, and the Dec g  about the Office of the Special Envoy for the Sahel, and the two more November 26, 3 pm cases of sexual exploitation in CAR by Cameroon troops in September 2019 (!) and 2018, and those of November 21 from 2017 and 2016, released an hour before UNSG Guterres met Cameroon FM, without readout or access or even response to request for access, on top of the November 11 case of rape in Liberia, and by a Cameroon "military observer" in Mali, UNanswered with Inner City Press blocked from noon briefing and only 2 questions inside, the cases of sexual exploitation and rape cursorily data dumped on November 11 at 10:30 am including rapes in Liberia, sexual exploitation in Sept 2019 in CAR (all nationalities undisclosed - why?), by Cameroon in Mali

December 18-6: Also on UN sexual exploitation, what are the belated comments and actions if any of SG Guterres on the study that interviewed approximately 2,500 Haitians about the experiences of local women and girls living in communities that host peace support operations. Of those, 265 told stories that featured children fathered by UN personnel. That 10% of those interviewed mentioned such children highlights just how common such stories really are.  The narratives reveal how girls as young as 11 were sexually abused and impregnated by peacekeepers and then, as one man put it, “left in misery” to raise their children alone, often because the fathers are repatriated once the pregnancy becomes known. Mothers such as Marie are then left to raise the children in settings of extreme poverty and disadvantage, with most receiving no assistance. 

December 18-7: On freedom of association and political rights and Thailand, what are the comments and actions if any of SG Guterres on that On December 16, 2019, police filed charges against the Future Forward Party leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, for organizing a rally on December 14 at Bangkok’s Pathumwan Intersection to oppose the government’s attempts to dissolve the party. More than 10,000 people attended the rally, the biggest political gathering since the May 2014 military coup.                 

December 18-8: On freedom of assembly and expression and Kazakhstan, what are the comments and actions of SG Guterres if any on that Security officials have moved in for the second time in hours to detain dozens of opposition and civil rights activities in Kazakhstan as they rallied to call for increased rights and the release of all political prisoners. Police detained at least 50 protesters in the capital, Nur-Sultan, and some 40 demonstrators in the Central Asian nation's largest city, Almaty, on Dec. 16 

December 18-9: On press freedom and Bangladesh, what are the comments and actions if any of SG Guterres and separately USG Melissa Fleming on the arrest of the editor of a Bangladesh opposition newspaper under harsh new digital security laws that critics say are used to muzzle dissent? Abul Asad, editor of the Daily Sangram, was taken into custody on Friday after a publishing an article describing an executed opposition leader as a "martyr."  The 80-year-old was charged with defaming Bangladesh's liberation war history for mentioning Abdul Quader Mollah ...

September 4-8: Immediately explain the single lawless line from MALU on 30 August 2019: "Greetings Matthew Lee from Inner City Press, Your media accreditation request, with reference no: M5413398, has been declined for the following reason: Media accreditation was withdrawn on 17 August 2018." This is a formal request for the UN's explanation of grounds for this denial. And a demand for answer to these questions, which MALU has declined to answer:  Who made the decision?  Where is the list of those accredited by [MALU]?  What and to whom is the process of appeal? 

September 3-19: On press freedom and Cameroon, on which you refused to answer on August 13 despite saying the office was staffed and answering, now more specific: what is the SG's comment and action if any, post golden statue, to that Paul Atanga Nji, territorial administration minister, says Cameroon's journalists are becoming highly unpatriotic.  "They have one main objective, just to sabotage government action, to promote secessionist tendencies," said Nji. "I urge them to be responsible. Those who do not want to respect the laws will be booked as being recalcitrant and will be treated as such"... Now that the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled against public officials blocking critics on Twitter even if the official claims their account is private [and AOC unblocking Dov Hikind], what is the justification for UNSG Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, with the UN flag in his profile photo and Guterres promoting content, blocking Inner City Press? What is SG Guterres' response / reaction to UN DSS and Guterres' actions on Inner City Press being listed in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, here.  In the UN, what has the accountability been for Lt Ronald E. Dobbins and those those refused on camera to give their names? What is each of yours - particularly the SG's - response to the letter written and sent by Burundi activist Manisha Lievin? Immediately explain the single lawless line from MALU on 30 August 2019: "Greetings Matthew Lee from Inner City Press, Your media accreditation request, with reference no: M5413398, has been declined for the following reason: Media accreditation was withdrawn on 17 August 2018." 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 Fleming have not even responded... 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 - and respond that Inner City Press on August 24 applied like 100s or 1000s of others to cover the upcoming UNGA high level week, including now formally offering to answer any quesions the UN / DSS might have, having been vetted and accredited elsewhere since, as both USG DSS Michaud and MALU have formally been timely informed -- and how it is possible that a media that closely covers and uncovers the UN could be denied entry, other than (SG) censorship.

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