UN
Belatedly
Confirms
Palestinian
Hunger Striker
Letter, DRC
Wire Contrast
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 19 –
What forces
the UN to
respond, and
how? A
week ago,
Palestinian
Permanent
Observer Riyad
Mansour told
Inner
City Press he
had just
delivered a
letter to the
office of
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon asking
for action on
hunger
striking
prisoner
Samer Issawi.
Inner
City Press
went to the February
12 noon
briefing and
asked Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
to confirm
receipt of the
letter, and
what
would then be
done:
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to ask
whether the
Secretary-General
has
received a
letter from
President
Abbas of the
Palestinian
Authority,
or the State
of Palestine,
about this
prisoner,
Samira Sami,
who has
been on hunger
strike for 200
days. I was
told that this
letter was
given to the
Secretariat, I
don’t know in
what format.
Are you
aware of the
letter and if
asked the
Secretary-General
to use his
good offices
to somehow
work on this
case?
Spokesperson
Nesirky
: I think I
will need to
check further
with our
colleagues
in Jerusalem —
Mr. Serry’s
team — to find
out a little
bit more
about that, I
don’t have
anything
concrete here
right now.
Inner
City Press:
The reason I
ask is because
Ambassador
Mansour came
back,
it was in the
middle of all
this DPRK
action, came
by the
stakeout
and said that
he had given
this letter, I
don’t know if
it was to
the
Secretary-General
himself, or
someone else
--
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Yeah, we will
check,
Matthew.
But
neither that
Tuesday, nor
Wednesday
February 13,
Thursday
February 14
or Friday
February 15
did the UN
answer the
question. Then
over the
weekend in
Ramallah there
were protests
at the UN, of
the UN's
inaction.
After
the UN's three
day weekend at
the next noon
briefing on
Tuesday
February 19
Inner City
Press asked
Nesirky again
about the
letter.
This time he
confirmed that
it had been
received, and
said that a
response would
be
forthcoming.
In
the afternoon,
Nesirky's
office
e-mailed out a
comment to its
mailing
list that
began, “The
Secretary-General
is deeply
concerned over
the rapidly
deteriorating
condition of
Palestinian
prisoners in
Israeli
custody who
are on hunger
strike, in
particular the
critical
health
condition of
one
Palestinian
detainee,
Samer Issawi.
The
Secretary-General
received a
letter from
Palestinian
President
Abbas.”
Why
didn't the UN
confirm to
Inner City
Press, in the
full week
after its
public
question at
the February
12 noon
briefing, that
the letter had
been received?
By
contrast on
Saturday,
February 16
after a
Rwandan
diplomat
tweeted
about a
signing in
Addis Ababa on
February 24 of
the Eastern
Congo
framework
agreement, Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson's
office
immediately
-- in less
than two hours
-- gave
a wire service
a confirmation,
but
did
not send the
news to other
media
interested in
the Congo and
the
agreement.
Nesirky's
office has so
far offered
this
explanation:
From:
UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
<[at]
un.org
Date: Sun, Feb
17, 2013 at
11:09 AM
Subject:
Questions
To: Matthew
Russell Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
On DRC
framework: A
member of the
Rwandan
Permanent
Mission
tweeted about
the agreement
on Saturday
afternoon,
reporters
asked and we
confirmed.
What is the
difference?
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
is asking.
Watch this
site.
, 
