Last week they arrested labor rights lawyer Haytham Mohamedeen for "belonging to an outlawed group." (In the UN, the Department of Public Information before evicting Inner City Press told it it would be ousted if it did not remove the sign of the Free UN Coalition for Access from the door of its past (and future?) office S-303, even as the neighboring door carried and carries Turkish government paraphernalia. That threat, from DPI's holdover Hua Jiang, cc-ed to holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric, is here). In 2016, Mohamedeen was arrested and later released over calling for protests against Egypt's transfer of two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. (When Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman on May 23 about Saudi detaining women's right activist, he spoke vaguely about space for civil society.) Apparently Sisi's Egypt is as much for sale as the UN, to Ng Lap Seng and more recently Patrick Ho and their mutual controller. An independent jury for a UNESCO prize awarded it to jailed Egyptian photo journalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid a/k/a Shawkan, about whom Inner City Press asked Amnesty International at the UN this month. The Egyptian government, needless to say, has criticized the award. This is the Sisi government to which Guterres sends his warm regards, and to whose state media Akhbar al Yom's Sanaa Youssef Guterres and his Global Communicator Alison Smale have purported to assign Inner City Press' long time work space in the UN. UNCA, the only claim to UN fame of Sanaa Youssef, has said nothing, bungling forward this April 23 with a 5 pm wine event for a novel seemingly entirely unrelated to the UN by
Elizabeth Strout, "at the event marking 'UN English Language Day', Ms. Strout will be joined by fiction writer Katherine Vaz and poet, Major Jackson... with a with a [sic] wine and cheese reception beginning at 5:00 pm." Then on April 24, ghoulishly an event in their clubhouse for a movement the UN's exclusionof which from the public UNSC stakeout UNCA, heavy with Moroccan state media, said nothing. We'll have more on this. On April 4, again with Akhbar al Youm's Saana Youssef nowhere in sight much less asking a question after a decade, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Dujarric, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: when you were asked about the 97 per cent election of President Sisi, you said, 'We were not involved in the holding of the election, whether in observing or technical assistance. So, I'll leave it at that.' I wanted to ask you, since then, one, a newspaper, Al-Masry Al-Youm, has been fined for its independent coverage of the election. And now a website, Masr al-Arabia, has been raided by the Government. So, beyond your… what you said on Monday, do you believe that… that… that… that the way in which the press was disallowed from covering this cake-walk election complies with the principles of António Guterres and his open-press ways?
Spokesman: I think the Secretary-General, in the run-up to the election, had expressed his concern at the limited political space in the country, and that is a concern we continue to have." Really. On April 5 it emerged that Egyptian prosecutors ordered the editor-in-chief of Masr al-Arabia, Adel Sabry, be detained for 15 days pending investigations. A prosecutor in Cairo’s Dokki district accused Sabry of belonging to a terrorist group, publishing false news, using text and visuals that contradict the constitution, and inciting demonstrations, according to Eman Hamed, the defendant’s lawyer. This is what today's UN is siding with, in the form of former UNCA President Sanaa Youssef of Egyptian state media. Back on February 28 when Guterres met Egypt's new Ambassador Mohamed Fathi Ahmed Edrees on February 28, Inner City Press went through the UN's tourist entrance and then UN Security on the 37th floor to cover it. Still, before Guterres expressed his warm regards for Sisi, who is arresting all opponents, the UN Security officer who has already checked Inner City Press' microphone told it it could not record audio, see below. Now on March 8, Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric about Sisi's government seeking the death penalty against photo journalist Shawkan, as relates to Guterres warm regards. From the UN transcript: Inner City Press: it was pretty… pretty recently that the Secretary-General sent his very, very warm regards to President [Abdelfattah al] Sisi of Egypt, and so, in that re… in that connection, I wanted to ask you, the noted photographer, Mahmoud Abou Zeid, also known as Shawkan, has now been informed that he faces the death penalty. He's been in jail for four and a half years. It's kind of a cause célèbre. And I wondered if the Secretary-General, who has these warm feelings, is this something he might have a comment on, a photojournalist being… facing the death by hanging? Spokesman: I will check on that particular case. The Secretary-General stands firmly against the death penalty. And as for questions of the ongoing climate in Egypt, I think I answered that to Masood two days ago, and my answer stands." Masood-ji, Dujarric's straight man for justification of eviction of the Press, videohere. This is censorship, and it remains ongoing - they have not answered a petition with thousands of signatures. Meanwhile Guterres and his Global Communicator Alison Smale have purported to assign Inner City Press' long time UN work space to Sisi's no show state media, Sanaa Youssef of Akhbar al Yom. We'll have more on this. Six days before when Guterres met Ecuador's Vice President María Alejandra Vicuña on February 22 it was supposed to be at 11:50 am. But another Inner City Press arrived half an hour before, by the time it was allowed in at 11:44 am the meeting was already underway. There was no handshake, and the Press was quickly ushered out. With Guterres was a single UN staffer: Katrin Hett. On the elevator down from the 38th floor, UN Department of Political Affairs deputy Miroslav Jenca was just arriving, and UN Photo missed the shot again. This is a pattern. The evening before on February 21 when Guterres met Cote d'Ivoire foreign minister Marcel Amon-Tanoh on February 21, Guterres changed the time twice. First from 5 pm to 6:40 pm - for this, notice was provided - and then without notice moving it up to 6:34 pm such that both the Ivorian photographer and even UN Photo missed it. It seems Guterres is only interested in accommodating those who can help him - he has been happy, for example, to have the investigative Press restricted for his entire tenure, with no explanation of what the rules are. No show state media in, investigative press, through the tourist entrance, minders required. This is "Big Tony's" United Nations, do as I say, not as I do. Big shots are getting over with sexual harassment, while directives go to underlings. The Global Communicator Alison Smale, censor in chief, is involved. At the February 21, restricted Inner City Press was the only media which asked any questions, on Justin Forsyth multiple abuser, now at UNICEF, about mis-statements about immunity in India, another no-answer on Tanzania. The only media asking, and the only media restricted by Guterres and Smale. We'll have more on this.
