Inner City Press Faces Office Loss For Being in Interpreters Booth - But Others Did It Today

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 23 -- After Inner City Press was summarily ejected from the UN, which it has covered for 10 years, on February 19 (audio here), the ostensibly deciding official Cristina Gallach told Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta, who contacted her to oppose her arbitrary decision, that Inner City Press would still be able to cover the UN.

That has proved to be false. So too as has the stated reason for Inner City Press' ouster: the supposedly illegal use of an interpreters booth in the UN Press Briefing Room. Inner City Press used it on January 29 in order to not disrupt or participate in the event by the UN Correspondents Association, a group Inner City Press quit in 2012, finding it to be corrupt.

Also, there are few electrical outlets in the UN Press Briefing Room, only in the front, where Inner City Press did not want to be - there would be, as there was, heckling. But Inner City Press said it has a right to be in the UN Press Briefing Room, until it is formally closed. And it was not.

   Since then it has been argued that there is a rule against being in the interpreters booth. This is not in the UN Media Guideline. But even if the rule were to exist somewhere - on March 23 it was openly broken, in front of the same Deputy Spokesman who used it to oust Inner City Press while insult it, then and since.

Here is video from March 23, Haq's noon briefing, with non interpreters in the interpreters booth. 

  So it is all a scam and a pretext for retaliation. Watch this site.

  Now Gallach, even having been informed that Inner City Press can no longer for example go to the second floor of the UN Conference Building and speak with diplomats entering and exiting meetings like March 21when it was Banned from covering the Western Sahara meeting of the Security Council, like March 9 on UN Security Council reform, and March 10 on Counter-Terrorism including in Sri Lanka, repeats the same position to others - as does Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson, under Stepane Dujarric, who on March 14 essentially said, We do whatever we want.

 On March 22 Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq went further, claiming that Inner City Press attempts to ask questions are "bullying" and saying he stands behind what he said during Inner City Press' first ouster from the Press Briefing Room, that Inner City Press "lies a lot." From the March 22 transcript, Video here:

Inner City Press: So the questions are as follows:  There was a meeting today down the second floor about revitalization of the General Assembly.  It was described as being about the selection process for the next SG.  Given that non-resident correspondents cannot enter that area and given the claim of Cristina Gallach of the DPI that the amount of access is identical, that there is no difference, how is it that those with non-resident passes? You said that you had one before, and you had full access.  Well, that was before the glass turnstiles were installed down where you go to the stairs and the ramp to go down, and these passes don't work there.  So how is a non-resident correspondent interested in covering the process for selecting the next Secretary-General supposed to, as others can, stake out that meeting?  And the second question is a much more specific question.  These focus booths that were promised when the press corps moved back to the Secretariat, there were supposed to be four of them.  They were supposed to have UN phones where you could call missions.  There are no phones, and it seems like we're down to one focus booth.  And a UNCA (United Nations Correspondents Association)-affiliated troll Twitter account has today announced that these booths are not even for reporters at all.  And in fact, in using them, I've been repeatedly asked to leave them.  So I wanted to know, what happened to the provision that… that non-resident correspondents can have a space to make a confidential phone call in?  And is it true, as UNCA appears to believe, that these focus booths are not, in fact, for reporters at all, but only for UN staff?

Deputy Spokesman:  Those are good questions for you to be asking our colleagues in the Department of Public Information… [cross talk]

Inner City Press:  They don't speak to me.  They didn't speak to me before throwing me out, so I'm asking you here.  They're simple questions.

Deputy Spokesman:  You have objectively not been thrown out.  I'm looking at you right now.

Inner City Press:  You're looking at me now.  I was physically thrown onto First Avenue, and my laptop was thrown on the street, and there's audio of it.  So you can say what you will.  If you're comfortable with it, it's fine… [cross talk]

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  It is clearly not the case that you've been thrown out of the building because you're in the building.

Inner City Press:  I was physically thrown out on 19 February.  Do you deny that? [cross talk]

Deputy Spokesman:  This room is part of the United Nations, and you’re here right now.  [cross talk]

Inner City Press:  I was thrown out.  Apparently, you don't understand the words that I'm saying.  I was thrown out.  It's a past tense.  I was told from the Security Council stakeout that I had to march down the escalator and go onto First Avenue, or I would be turned over to NYPD (New York Police Department).  This is what I was told.  It's all on audio.  You can listen to it or not.  But I dispute your statement.  But here's my question.  Maybe you don't want to talk about the focus booth, because this was a huge…

Deputy Spokesman:  Your volume is rising.  Take it down a notch.

Inner City Press:  Okay.  My question is this.  Given that this event may still be going on and given it's about the important topic of next SG selection, how is it that people either that currently have or who have been downgraded without due process to non-resident correspondents status, how are they supposed to stake out and cover this meeting?

Deputy Spokesman:  That's a good question to ask our colleagues in media accreditation.  Please do so.

Inner City Press:  I'm asking you.  I don't want a minder. I want to stand as I could before 19 February in front of the room… [cross talk]

Deputy Spokesman:  I'm not the in-house representative for you.  You can deal with media accreditation.  [cross talk]

Inner City Press:  You told me to leave the room.  You said I lie a lot.  It's all on tape, so I'm asking you.

Deputy Spokesman:  I stand by what I said.

Inner City Press:  Okay.  Very good.

Deputy Spokesman:  Have a good day.

 On March 14, Inner City Press arrived early at the UN to cover the UN's continuing cover up of its rape scandal, the swearing in a adviser on the topic of Jane Holl Lute, who did the same thing ten years ago.

Inner City Press has covered many such swearing-in photo ops at the UN, without incident. But now it is all different. Up on the 38th floor, before UN officials including the evicter Cristina Gallach, the justifier Stephane Dujarric, the non-responding head of the UN Office of Legal Affairs, the American Jeffrey Feltman, UNresponsive on Sri Lanka, the entirely UNresponsive Herve Ladsous and Ban Ki-moon himself arrived, a UN Security guard called Inner City Press aside.

   “They told me you were cleared to do this,” the UN guard said. Audio here. Actually, even those with non-resident correspondent accreditation like Inner City Press was without due process cut to, are “cleared” without question.
  The UN guard told Inner City Press, “Do it in a nice way.” Did this mean, write a nice article?

  Because the hiring of a single individual will not fix the UN's problems with rape (Ladsous, in attendance, has publicly linked the rapes to R&R). And the inability / unwillingness of those officials present, aware of the ouster and censorship of Inner City Press speaks volumes. It is current an organization that cannot fix itself.

   Later, after a second photo op seemingly designed for Ban to campaign for president of South Korea, Inner City Press asked Dujarric,UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: I noticed today, having attended now two photo ops, that there's a… clearly either an interview or some kind of a documentary or something larger from Phoenix TV with the Secretary-General.  And I wanted to know, seemed to be that, in some of these incidents, the… the crew that's following Ban Ki-moon's every movement today is given rights greater than journalists that are just photographing.

Spokesman Dujarric:  Yes.

Inner City Press:  Okay.  What… so who decides that?  What exactly…?

Spokesman:  Matthew, I'm not…

Inner City Press:  I'm asking.

Spokesman:  You know, there is… I think most journalists would expect someone in my position not to share what projects or interviews they're doing on.  It is our decision to decide what interviews to grant, what documentary filmmakers to work with, one way or another.  That's it.  It's our decision.  I mean, I don't… it's not something for discussion.  We don't share…

Inner City Press:  My question's what's the right of normal… of regular non-resident correspondent journalists to go to photo ops?  Because I went to a photo op today and I was told by security to be nice, and I think it's inappropriate.  Isn't that inappropriate?

Spokesman:  I think it's always nice to be nice…

Inner City Press:  Yeah, but why am I told not to be nice and these guys are in the residence?

Spokesman:  I'm done.  Yes.

Correspondent:  Thank you, Steph.

Spokesman:  I'm always told to be nice.

  But you're not, Inner City Press said. But the UN did not transcribe it. They do whatever they want -- including on March 14 selling jewelry in the same lobby they threw the Press out of. More to follow.

But Inner City Press had been told that while the pass would not allow it to enter the UN after 7 pm, if it was already inside working, it could finish.

  On March 10 at 8 pm, as Inner City Press sat in the UN Lobby cafe area editing a video of the day's noon briefing, see below, UN Security officers approached and told it to leave. Immediately. Video here.

  Inner City Press asked if this rule applied to all non-resident correspondents, many of whom stayed much later than 8 pm, or only to it.

  "I"m just doing what I'm told," UN DSS Officer Clyde said, telling Inner City Press to take it up with his supervisor Chief (Michael or Mick) Brown.

 This is harassment; it flows from the February 19 no due process order of Under Secretary General of DPI Cristina Gallach but has been enabled by inaction by the highest UN officials and some diplomats.

On March 11, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about having been ousted from the UN again, video here, UN transcript here:

The March 10 session on Counter-Terrorism, including Sri Lanka Supreme Court Justice Chandra Ekanayake, was held in the ECOSOC Chamber - Inner City Press was not able to stake it out and talk to diplomats, as it had before.

On March 10, Inner City Press asked Dujarric, Vine here, UN transcipt here.

 In fact, it was Dujarric who used the UN Press Briefing Room he threw Inner City Press out of to "discuss" Inner City Press' accreditation on February 22 - only, with a board member of UNCA, the UN Corruption Association / UN Censorship Alliance.

  Cristina Gallach has written, "Mr Lee has a Press accreditation that allows him to cover all events in the UN, as the rest of accredited journalists."  She even referred to "total access."

This is false.

  For example, today's General Assembly meeting on Security Council reform is "closed." But those with Resident Correspondent accreditation, which Gallach stripped from Inner City Press without any due process and only two hours notice on February 19, can use their pass to swipe through the turnstile on the second floor and stakeout outside the meeting, speaking with diplomats.

Inner City Press cannot - its new restricted pass does not open the second floor turnstile. It has been Banned from this type of coverage.

It was precisely by staking out outside "Closed" meetings that Inner City Press got and covered such stories as Sri Lankan alleged war criminal Shavendra Silva being one of Ban Ki-moon's Senior Advisers on Peacekeeping. Staking out closed meetings of the Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping, Inner City Press quoted even South Asian ambassadors on what an outrage it was.

  Now Inner City Press is Banned from such coverage, and the UN Department of Public "Information" is misleading those who contact it.

At the March 9 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq about what Gallach had said,full YouTube here, Vine here and here, from the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: Beyond the letter from the Northern Provincial Council to Secretary-General Ban, Cristina Gallach of DPI [Department of Public Information] has received a letter from a group called the Tamil Sangam, of diaspora Tamils.  And the reason I'm asking you is the following:  They've sent me her response to them.  They raised a number of issues about Sri Lanka coverage, UN's performance in Sri Lanka, and she wrote back and said:  "I want to firmly clarify that Mr. Lee has total access at the UN."  And since that's actually not the case, since I can't go through the turnstile on the second…

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  That is the case.

Inner City Press:  No, it's not.  I can't cover ECOSOC [Economic and Social Council].  I can't cover Trusteeship.  I'm telling you…

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  Matthew, you have access.  We're standing in a briefing room in the United Nations right now.  You’re asking…

Inner City Press:  She said "total access", "total access", So let me ask you…

Deputy Spokesman:  You can go anywhere that the other reporters [can].

Inner City Press:  No, I can't.  What about the 2nd Floor of the conference building?  This pass doesn't work, and I'm told by Security I cannot go there.  So, I'm asking you, what did she mean by "total access"?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  You can go to the Security Council stakeout or any other public area.

Inner City Press:  This is not the case.  Come with me…

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  Matthew, I used to have a non-resident pass many, many, many years ago, and I used to go all the areas.

Inner City Press: They didn't used to have a glass turnstile there.  And I'm also told to leave the building at 7 pm,  that if I leave the building after 7 pm, I can't come back into it no matter what work I'm doing.  Is that the case?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  Matthew, as far as I'm aware, you have the time to go about the work that you need to do.  Joe?

Inner City Press:  I'm totally contesting it, totally.

  Again, Inner City Press is as of March 8 not allowed to cover anything on the second floor of the UN conference building (ECOSOC, Trusteeship Council), cannot effectively edit videos of UN Q&A, and must leave the building by 7 pm. These are restrictions.

  But USG Gallach continues to repeat the mantra that reducing the Press' ability to do journalism at the UN by 60% is fine. A group wrote to her that

"it is paramount importance that journalists of Mr. Lee's caliber continue to monitor the UN system and we firmly stand behind him. We urge you to resolve the dispute with him and restore to Mr. Lee his Resident Correspondent accreditation and ICP's long-time office which he uses to do his journalistic work.  We do not find the punishment in your February 19 letter to be proportionate even to what it's claimed he did: seek to cover an even in the UN's own Press Briefing Room. Why was that meeting in that UN Press Briefing Room anyway, if it was 'private'?"

  This question -- who "lent' the UN Press Briefing Room to a group connected to the very UN bribery scandal discussed on March 8 in the UN Budget Committee, here, and why -- has yet to be answered. Instead, USG Gallach from her phone at 10 pm, after a Kazakhstan event, robo-replied:

"I can firmly clarify to you that Mr Lee has a press pass that allows him total access to press conferences, media stake outs and press conferences in the UN building. I am convinced that the coverage about the issues you care most [sic] is totally will be not at all affected."

 That is FALSE. Inner City Press is now restricted from the entire second floor of the UN conference building, must leave the building by 7 pm, cannot conduct interviews or edit videos in its long time shared office - for trying to cover a meeting, in the Press Briefing Room, of an entity also connected by South South to the UN bribery scandal?Petition here.

 USG Gallach's response was cc-ed to Ban's spokesman Dujarric, who cannot claim to not know the restrictions on the pass Inner City Press has been, without due process, confined to. On March 8 he said, we will not characterize it, "People are free to demonstrate." (Vine here.)

  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whose office has confirmed receipt of at least three petitions to reverse Gallach's order, and seenprotests of the UN in for example Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka for ousting Inner City Press, said these words in Baden-Baden, Germany on March 7:

"journalists face growing efforts to silence their voices – through harassment, censorship and attacks.  Journalists are not criminals.  But they are often mistreated."

Note: on February 19, Inner City Press was physically ousted from the UN Security Council stakeout where it was writing up the evening's Syria meeting and was told "you are a trespasser" in the UN and that it would be handed over to NYPD. Audio here.

 "During the past nine years as Secretary-General, I have been working hard to defend the press."

  Well, the above happened on February 19, and restrictions remain in place with no right to appeal, and no due process. Ban and his senior advisers have been informed of it.

  On February 26 the Government Accountability Project, which defends whistleblowers, wrote to the US Mission to the UN, Ambassador of Management and Reform Isobel Coleman, to ask the US to ensure Inner City Press gets back its office and Resident Correspondent's pass. GAP letter here.

  GAP's Beatrice Edwards cited the UN's lack of due process and of rules, and the seeming retaliation against Inner City Press for its reporting. (There's also the physical ouster of Inner City Press, audio here.) Other missions have openly taken action: what will the US Mission do?

 On February 29, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric another question about UN - this time DPI - seeming corruption, and about GAP's letter, Video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: I'd asked you previously about South-South News, which is pretty much in… is in this indictment of Mr. [Francis] Lorenzo and Mr. Ng Lap Seng as a conduit for funds for the alleged bribery at the UN, why its… its footage and a number of its pieces are included in UNTV in an archive, and I checked today.  They're still there.

I wanted to know, since there's no other med… non-UN media that I can find that has its material inside that archive, why is that, and why does it remain to be the case, given the fact that it's named as a vehicle for bribery?

Spokesman Dujarric:  Obviously, I think that's a question you can address to my colleagues in DPI.

Inner City Press:  Okay.  They're not communicating too well.

Spokesman:  [Calls on another.]

Inner City Press: Again, I'll keep it very short, but I wanted to ask you, the Government Accountability Project, which you know, which represented Mr. [Anders] Kompass and other UN whistle-blowers, has issued a letter on Friday in which they say… they call for… I guess I'll put it in personal terms… for my resident correspondent pass to be returned and my office.  And they say the action was retaliatory in response to independent critical journalism.  I'd like to know what your response to this respected group reaching that conclusion is.

Spokesman:  My simple response would be no, and I'm sure they will get a response from whoever they addressed the letter to.

 We'll see.

 Meanwhile in defense of Ban and Gallach, anonymous troll account has taken to tweeting, now at Spanish journalists, that Gallach is fine and didn't throw Inner City Press out of the UN on two hours notice without once speaking to it. But those are the fact. Among the new troll account's followers are Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric and four UNCA board members, plus Reuters bureau chief Louis Charbonneau, who has a history with this, see here.

US Mission to UN Is Asked to Ensure ICP Gets Its Office & UN Pass, by GAP by Matthew Russell Lee

  Because as a working journalist it needed access to cover the February 25 UN Security Council meeting about North Korea, and only in connection with filing a lawyer's letter telling Gallach and the UN not to touch Inner City Press' office or files, Inner City Press late morning entered the UN with a so-called "Green P" non-resident correspondents pass.

  At the day's noon briefing, after asking of Burundi, Western Sahara, Darfur and the UN corruption scandals, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric two simple question, to which he said #AskGallach. UN transcript.

  Wait - so the UN has no protocols on the use of force? Or DPI's Gallach is in charge of the use of force, and ordered it? How can the UN and USG Gallach be so contemptuous to the most basic forms of due process?

Inner City Press is opposing all this.

  And so now are a range of people from around the world, who have signed a petition to immediately restore Inner City Press to the UN Resident Correspondent accreditation it had for nine years until, without any due process, the UN pass was physically torn from its chest as UN Security throw its laptop onto the sidewalk in front of the UN (also owned by the UN and immunity from US law including the First Amendment).

Here are just some of the comments of those signing the petition directed to Ban Ki-moon:

UN cover-up artists are taking advantage of the dying months of Ban Ki-moon's tenure to remove a thorn in their side, because they are worried the new SG won't want to start out with a fight. -James Bone, Shelter Island Heights, NY

ICP has been the only voice for the oppressed in #Burundi, #Haiti & #Yemen at #UN. -Eloge Tinya, Lagos, Nigeria

ICP asked questions that will bring clarity on the agreement the Prime Minister of Dominica signed in Macau on August 25, 2015 together with Ng Lap Seng and a UN official. -Hon. Hector John, Salisbury, Dominica

I am signing for UN to restore Matthew Lee Inner City Press right to access to the UN as a Resident Correspondent to question authorities because it is the fundamental of free speech as the UN preaches to other countries it must first practice itself to set example. -Smret Kibrom, San Gallo, Switzerland

Freedom of press. -Prem Kumar, India

innercitypress defends the human rights of Burundians and help to avoid genocide, please free innercitypress! - MICHAEL Tim, London, United Kingdom

I'm signing because the barring of access to Mr. Lee appears to be at worst motivated by a reluctance to engage with and continue to receive the probing questions he asks, and at best the result of a petty personal vendetta based on unprofessional antipathy towards Mr. Lee by the 'respectable' wing of the United Nations press corps. -Marlon Ettinger, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY

I am signing this petition for Matthew Russell Lee and Inner City Press be restored to the shared UN office and Resident Correspondent accreditation they have had for eight years prior to this pretextual incident. It also requests, as does the Free UN Coalition for Access that Matthew co-founded, that an investigation be launched into how all of this occurred. Moreover to call for aggressive investigative journalism at the UN and to tell the leaders of the UN that the UN, too, must live up to the principles of due process and freedom of the press. -Martha Fassil, New York, NY

Han er en journalist som forteller sannheten til verden.
Mussie Tesfay, Oslo, Norway

UN should walk the talk. Practice what you preach - rule of law, democracy, freedom of expression, of press. Reinstate ICP Mathew Russell Lee to full resident reporter. -Seble Ephrem, London, United Kingdom

Incredible. This banning is the exact opposite of the transparency and accountability that the UN should be defending for all institutions. This must be reversed. Denis Rancourt, Ottawa, Canada

ICP is the most reliable source of information at the UN. The other corporate media are controlled by the special interest groups. Thus their journalistic integrity is always suspect. ICP is voice of the voiceless - of course unlike the UN and its sponsors and financiers. -tsehaie mahary, edmonton, Canada

I express my solidarity with Mathew, God bless you friend
Mohamed MAYARA, El Aaiun, Western Sahara

Matthew Lee has been a lone voice asking the difficult questions in the UN press gallery. -Martin Field, Geneva, Switzerland

I have seen Matthew only defending the truth. He is a journalist with a genuine journalist ethics. He is also the one of the most intelligent and courageous journalist. He is a model how other journalist should be. He should be given a noble prize for what he does not get banned from the UN. -Yacob Woldehiwot, London, United Kingdom

The UN cannot be dismissive of new media as people get their news from new media.The UN cannot pick and choose media persons according to their whims and fancies. -soraya patel, India

Shame on UN. -ibrahim alhaifi, Sanaa, Yemen

I believe this is censorship of the press. Shameful. -Douglas Smith, New York, NY

For Truth & Transparency, there must always be those who Question more. -Auet Melache, Bolton, United Kingdom

I am signing because UN is being unfair and need to take some responsibility. -Lynda Charles, Boynton Beach, FL

He's credible and follows the ethics of journalism to the fullest. -Amanuel Tseggai, Stone Mountain, GA

We need the alternative,independent and investigative media to be present everywhere. -Marja Konttila, Solna, Sweden

I demand the U.N. unconditionally and ASAP to restore access to Inner City Press`Matthew Russell Lee to the U.N. as a Resident Correspondent. -johannes abraham, Germany


InnerCity Press has been very professional and a life saver. His reports on different issues around the world helped uncover certain hidden truths. If Ban was in #Burundi 2 days ago, I can say it is mainly because of his persistence of bringing Burundi to light from the repression of de facto president
Manirambona Juma, Kirundo, Burundi

Matthew Russell Lee, founder of the Inner City Press, is a veteran investigative journalist I have relied upon on UN news for the past six years. He is truthful, and pursues truth in reporting tenaciously and with integrity. We need more journalists like him at the UN to keep us informed. He and his Inner City Press must be reinstated as a fully accredited resident journalist to the UN. -Elias Amare, San Rafael, CA

Does the UN have something to hide? The UN is also obligated by the same principles and norms it preaches. I demand the UN to reinstate Matthew Russell Lee to his desk so he can do what he does best- pure journalism. He is the only honest journalist at the UN compound and being the voice of the voiceless. -Daniel Berhe, Seattle, WA

I respectively ask UNSG and Mr Ban ki-moon to return Matt to his post as a dedicated reporter in the UN. I have a huge respect for the guy. It would be a travesty of justice if a reporter like matt is out the office of the biggest office in the world when we need a reporter of such kind. -Kibrom tekeste, berkeley, CA

The UN repeatedly acts like human rights protections apply to everyone but themselves. -Betsey Chance, Cambridge, MA

Matthew is the only bona fide journalist reporting on UN. He alone is rectifying the defects created by system of diplomatic immunity. Why makes his job harder? Do you have something to hide from him? He makes UN a more acceptable organization and indeed, by genuinely reporting he makes this world a better place. -T Chan, London, United Kingdom

I am signing for UN to restore Matthew Lee Inner City Press right to access to the UN as a Resident Correspondent to question authorities because it is the fundamental of free speech as the UN preaches to other countries it must first practice itself to set example.
Sara Haile, Alexandria, VA

Matthew Lee is, far and away, the hardest-working and most dogged of any journalist at the United Nations. His arbitrary expulsion is both outrageous and a reflection of the fact that things are not as they should be at the United Nations, and certainly not what YOU would expect. - alberto martin, New York, NY

I'm signing because I believe in the freedom of the press. I often reads Matthew Lee's work which reports on difficult topics and events that need covering and exposure. He should be reinstated at your earliest convenience.
Rebecca Myles, New York, NY

I'm signing because I'm an advocate for real, independent journalism and condemn the UN's decision to remove Inner City Press's access based on a nonsensical pretext! -Hermon Gebrai, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom

I appreciate Inner City Press' persistent and prepared journalism at the United Nations. -Brian Concannon Jr., Marshfield, MA

Freedom of the press. -Luiz Rampelotto, New York, NY

The UN needs to be held to standards of openess, transparency and freedom of the press. -Samuel Horton, Silsden, United Kingdom

Lee should not have been expelled, it's a disgrace to the UN. -Richard Johnson, Potomac, MD

It's unfair to throw someone out like that with out hearing from his side of history. -Hermon Tsegay, Slough, United Kingdom

Such a crck down on media in an organization promoting freedom of speech and information is really awkward and clearly disgraceful and unacceptable. -Florent Nduwayo, Kibungo, Rwanda

This is another in a long line of incidents conclusively evidencing the UN's complete and utter disrespect for the laws of its HOST country, the US, in particular the 1st amendment!! UN IMMUNITY = IMPUNITY--END IT NOW!! Journalists are the ultimate whistleblowers, and I am well aware of how UN whistleblowers like Mr Lee are persecuted and suffer grievous harm at the hands of rogue UN officials. The treatment of Mr. Lee is an outrage.

How ironic this has happened just as the US House Committe on Foreign Relations is today, on 24 Feb, holding a hearing about the gross mistreatment of whistleblowers at the UN and WIPO. Congress must act now to cut off 15% of US appropriations to the UN this year on account of its failure to protect and encourage UN whistleblowers like Mr Lee, as provided for in US law, as it already did to WIPO!! -ted beacher, Geneva, Switzerland

ICP is doing a great job. UN should support,respect and promote free speech. -Kalu Thapa, Kathmandu, Nepal

There are more...

 But the UN Correspondents Association, at least its 15 Executive Committee members, issued a February 22 statement in context fully supporting the throwing of Inner City Press into the street, the seizure of passport, the Banning, all of it. We wonder if these scribes' employers know about this.

  For now we reiterate the obvious: the UN Press Briefing Room is presumptively open to all press. If Spokesman Dujarric, or DPI's Gallach, wants to lend it to their friends, at least provide a notice so journalists hungry for news don't get excluded and get nothing.

From Sri Lanka, Report of Joint Letter to Reverse Inner City Press' Ouster That Ban Ki-moon & Cristina Gallach Ignore

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 19 -- On February 19, Inner City Press was thrown out of the UN, on two hours notice, after having put critical questions to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

On March 3 Dujarric's Deputy Farhan Haq refused for a second day to comment on a protest of the ouster, held at the UN Compound in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka. English; English II; Tamil; UN Q&A Video. That is today's UN: UNaccountable.

 Now the Sunday Times reports:

"Eelam groups make plea for Lee: Sri Lanka is in the middle of a raging controversy at the UN over the world body’s suspension of the media credentials of a US journalist, Matthew Lee of Inner City Press (ICP). He has been advocating the rights of the Tamils in his daily blog. V. Rudrakumar, described as the prime minister of the transnational government of Tamil Eelam, has signed a letter, along with six Tamil expatriate organisations asking the UN to restore Lee’s credentials.

Following an incident where he tried to record a closed-door meeting of the UN Correspondents’ Association, Lee’s credentials as a resident correspondent were withdrawn and he was told to vacate his office in the UN building. But he has been issued a restricted non-resident media pass.

The letter, which is also signed by the US Tamil Political Action Council, the Ilankai Tamil Sangam USA, the Tamil Forum, New Jersey, the National Council of Canadian Tamils, People for Equality and Relief in Lanka and the World Thamil Organisation, has asked the UN to reconsider the decision to revoke Lee’s credentials.

'The coming months will be crucial for Sri Lanka at the UN as the government of Sri Lanka must take steps to implement the UNHRC resolution HRC/30/1 for truth, reconciliation and transitional justice. We are concerned that ICP’s inability to report on UN’s support for this process will be significantly limited with a temporary non-resident pass granted to Mr. Lee,' the letter says.

The letter also describes ICP as a 'key source of information for the victims in Sri Lanka in understanding how their affairs figure at the United Nations.' The letter has been addressed to the Under-Secretary-General for Public Information Cristina Gallach, with a copy to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon."

   Ban's spokespeople refused to response on a letter from Jaffna. And now this? Watch this site.

  Note: This letter was copied to US Ambassador Samantha Power and Secretary of State John Kerry, on which we'll have more as well.

  Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, last week said the UN Human Rights Council's work on "Sri Lanka has helped the international community to respond to human rights emergencies and work towards accountability." How exactly is that? Relatedly, Ban hasn't responded to letter acknowledged by his office, including from Jaffna.

The UN won't even allow the question to be asked - and speaks for USg Jeffrey Feltman, that he will have no comment on how this thuggish behavior by the UN in New York plays in Sri Lanka, which the UN purports to care about. March 2 video here and embedded below.

On March 10, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: a Sri Lanka and a related question.  One has to do with Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe has said openly that there will be no foreign judges involved in the accountability mechanism, which is, I know, something that the Secretary-General has returned to again and again.  Now this is a Government minister saying it.  What is the Secretary-General's position?

Spokesman:  I have no guidance on Sri Lanka.  If I find something, I will share it.

  Hour later, nothing.

 Meanwhile Inner City Press has received more evidence of how UNprotected the UN left Sri Lankans, including its own UN staff in Sri Lanka. Inner City Press is exclusively publishing here a Witness Statement for the OISL, in which a staff member of UN OCHA describes being kidnapped in one of the notorious white vans and tortured by burning.

The witness also describes the horrendous conditions at the camps that Ban Ki-moon himself visited in May 2009.  Inner City Press on March 7 asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq about it, video here, Vine here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: since the protest that I've asked you about, and I'll sort of open-endedly say whether you have any response to it, of the UN compound in Jaffna, I've been sent a copy of a UN OCHA staff member's witness statement for the [Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigation on Sri Lanka], in which he states that, during the time frame in Sri Lanka, he was an OCHA staff member and has presented his identification card, et cetera, that he was picked up by white vans of the Government, was tortured, and that, although he told his employers at UN OCHA, absolutely nothing was done for him since.  And I wanted to know, what has the UN done since it's admitted what Ban Ki-… or what the Petrie report called a systemic failure to ensure that at least those that actually worked for it at the time have either some recompense or some justice?  And are they aware… I can… you know, I published a redacted version of his statement.  What does the UN… what was its duty to these staff members, and what does it say about those who were tortured with no response by the UN?

Deputy Spokesman Hq:  Well, certainly, we have a duty to all staff members to make sure that their basic rights are respected.  If there's a report of a staff member being tortured, we would have to take that up.  We'll need to follow up on… on what happened with this particular case.  Thanks.

 Nine hours later and counting, nothing.

  Triggered by UN Under Secretary General Cristina Gallach's no due process order, and use of UN Security to oust Inner City Press, Inner City Press has as when the UN Correspondents Association under Giampaolo Pioli did in 2012 begun to receive threats. Many, even most, of the same UNCA board members aware of the 2012 threats remain in place now.

The Northern Provincial Council letter to Ban Ki-moon on which Ban's Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq refused to answer Inner City Press on March 4 also noted that Inner City Press has "exposed the dealing between certain UN Press Corps officials and the Sri Lankan diplomats" - we'll have more on this too.

Ironically, one of the UN Security officials who in 2012 was providing assurances to Innr City Press - was among those who Banned Inner City Press from UN premises now in 2016. In which direction is the UN moving?
On March 4, Inner City Press changed tacks and asked Ban's spokesperson Haq about a letter, video here,


UN transcript here:

Inner City Press:  I want to ask about Sri Lanka, and I'm asking about a letter, physical letter, that was addressed to the Secretary-General from the Northern Provincial Council, which is a body that Mr. [Jeffrey] Feltman, for example, has met with in the north.  The letter says that Inner City Press has been critical of UN-affiliated personalities who are alleged of sidelining or siding with genocidal commanders involved in war crimes against the Tamil people.  And finally, it says, we are shocked to learn that, on 19 February, the Under-Secretary-General of DPI (Department of Public Information), Cristina Gallach, signed a letter giving two hours to Mr. Lee, summarily expelling him from the premises, revoking his press pass…

Deputy Spokesman:  Matthew, Matthew, you're not expelled from the premises.  We are in the premises right now.  [cross talk]

Inner City Press:  Right.  Right. [What about office and Resident Correspondent pass?]

Deputy Spokesman:  I see you in front of me.  [cross talk]

Inner City Press: I know that you like that point.  The end of the sentence is revoking his UN resident correspondent pass and access to his office.  And so I am asking you, as a response to a letter from the Northern Provincial Council of Sri Lanka, what is your response to the letter?  They also say there was no due process...  the combination of the two, the lack of coverage of, for example, Mr. [Vijay] Nambiar's dealings in the white flag killings, Mr. Shavendra Silva being a senior peacekeeping adviser to Ban Ki-moon, followed by this act without due process, unprecedented and totally disproportionate penalty...  So I'm asking you, what's the response to the letter?

Deputy Spokesman:  I have no response to the letter, and I have no comment on this.  As you're well aware, the concerns that we have about the peace process in Sri Lanka, the… and the end of the fighting are a separate matter from your particular issues with the Department of Public Information, on which I would have no comment.

[cross talk]

Inner City Press:  And what's your concern of a journalist being in this room…  That's what I'd like to know.  What is so extreme about a journalist being in this room and saying, when DSS (Department of Safety and Security) asked me to leave, I'll leave that justifies the things that are described in this letter?  Can you explain?

Deputy Spokesman:  Matthew, I am not going to get into why you have a problem with your accreditation with the Department of Public information.  You have an issue… [cross talk]

Inner City Press:  Well, they've asked Ban Ki-moon.  You speak for Ban Ki-moon.  Is Ban Ki-moon going to answer the letter?  [cross talk]

Deputy Spokesman:  The decision on your accreditation is a decision taken by the Department of Public Information.  [cross talk] It's based on actions, having to do with actions that you took, indeed, in this very room, that were hindering…  [cross talk]

Inner City Press:  In a meeting that wasn't listed as closed, not in the UN Journal of anywhere else as closed.  I'm just asking.  Should they write to Cristina Gallach?  They've written to the wrong person…  [cross talk]

Deputy Spokesman:  You can say whatever you want, but it's not my place to argue with you about the decision…

Inner City Press:  It's a letter to Ban Ki-moon.  You speak for Ban Ki-moon.  So I'm asking you for a response to the letter.

Sri Lanka NPC Letter to Ban Ki-moon Protesting USG Gallach Stripping ICP Of Resident Correspondent Accredit... by Matthew Russell Lee

Deputy Spokesman:  This is a decision taken… you can talk over me as much as you want but it doesn't preclude the reality of it.

Question:  No, I see you trying to move… if you'll just stay stationary, I'll be quiet.

Deputy Spokesman:  Okay.  Yes.  Nabil?

  On March 3 Inner City Press again endeavored to ask Sri Lanka questions, including about the UN's role in killings there. Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Farhan Haq tried to PRE cut off the questions. Video here,from the UN transcript:

Inner City Press:  I want to ask about Yemen, DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations] and Sri Lanka.  On…

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  Sri Lanka or you?  Is it really about Sri Lanka?

Inner City Press:  Well, why don't we just wait and see, you know?  Because I thought actually people can ask questions in here.

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  You're perfectly entitled to.  It's just that you have this adorable way of saying what your subject titles are for your questions, and they seem to not match what the actual questions are.

Question:  There was a protest in Jaffna.  That's actually not what I was going to ask about.  You could easily take a look at it.  And I think it's outrageous that you didn't answer it.  But, I have another question on Sri Lanka. ...

Inner City Press:  Here's a Sri Lanka question you seem to have tried to stop in advance, but…

Deputy Spokesman:  I wasn't stopping in advance.  I just don't like false advertising.

Inner City Press:  If the UN is protested in Sri Lanka, I think it is a Sri Lanka question.  And I actually think you do answer about protests of the UN elsewhere.

Deputy Spokesman:  Sure.

Inner City Press:  And, in fact, if VICE News…

Deputy Spokesman:  Is this a protest having to do with Sri Lanka, or is it about you?

Inner City Press:  If VICE News asks you about Turkey locking up VICE News journalists in Turkey, do you say, don't ask about VICE News?  I'm just asking you.  So, if the UN does something that people protest, you don't answer?  But, here's my question.  There's a letter from a group called the Tamil Relief Fund, and it is saying the following… it is saying that not 40,000, as reported in Mr. Ban's report, but 70,000 civilians were killed in 2009.  And it says that the UN has not conducted any credible investigation in it and that, therefore, a number of parties, including the UN, should not invest in… with the Government who had just committed, they say, a genocide.  And I'd like to know the UN side of this letter, how do you respond?  Does the UN feel that it conducted an inquiry, a sufficient inquiry, into the number of people killed and that there's been accountability, and how does the UN justify its now more accommodative stance given the facts alleged in this letter?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, you'll have seen what we've been saying about the [Maithripala] Sirisena Government and its efforts to investigate.  We're trying to encourage an effort to get to the bottom of what happened in the end of the conflict with the Tamils.  And we want to make sure that there's an actual good-faith effort by the Government of Sri Lanka to do that, and we'll keep pressing on that.

Inner City Press:  According to the UN, how many people were killed?

Deputy Spokesman:  Hold on.  Yeah, yes?

UNCA / ex-Reuters:  Just a housekeeping question.  Are there transcripts available of press conferences in… oh, sorry.

Deputy Spokesman:  Yeah, please use that.

UNCA / ex-Reuters:  Thanks.  Just a housekeeping question:  Are there transcripts available of press conferences in Geneva like Jan Egeland this morning, and do I have to listen to it live again?

Deputy Spokesman:  Yeah, the press conferences that they have, the UN Office in Geneva transcribes those.  So, hopefully, they'll be out on the website later.

Inner City Press:  According to the UN, after all this time and all this interest, according to the UN, what, approximately, as close as you can make it, was… was the approximate number of civilians killed in 2008 and 2009?  And also, has the matter of Mr. Vijay Nambiar, close senior adviser of Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and his role in communicating with surrendering individuals at end of the conflict who ended up being killed with a white flag in their hand, has this matter been resolved within the UN system to the satisfaction of Ban Ki-moon?  Because it's not to the satisfaction of people in Jaffna.

Deputy Spokesman:  We have already said where we stand on the question of how Mr. Nambiar handled that.  I'd refer you back to what we said several years back.  Regarding the death tolls, ultimately, that's… the figures had been developed and… and have… are in the hands of, I believe, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, so you should ask them.  All right.  Have a good afternoon.

  This is a new low for the UN. From the March 2 UN transcript:

Inner City Press: Yesterday, I'd asked you about a protest that took place at the UN compound in Jaffna.  And you'd said you had no comment on it. There's video of it.  Many people have said it seems strange, and they've looked at other comments your office has made on other protests.  The question is…

Deputy Spokesman:  And I… I continue…  Matthew, I continue… You called…

Inner City Press:  Right, what I'm asking is, when do you respond to a protest…?

Deputy Spokesman:  Matthew, Matthew, Matthew.  You called this a question about Sri Lanka.  This is actually a question about yourself.  I have nothing to say about you and your particular thing.

Inner City Press:  It took place in Jaffna.  Have you seen it?  Mr. [Jeffrey] Feltman has seen it.  How does it relate to the work of the UN in Sri Lanka?

Deputy Spokesman:  It's a question for which neither I nor Mr. Feltman, by the way, have any comment.  Have a good day.

  This is a new low - including for Feltman. There is a video of the protest - of which senior UN officials have been made aware. Now what?

In a letter that gave Inner City Press only two hours, Ban's Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach told Inner City Press to surrender the key to its long-time shared office.

  That evening eight UN Security guards under Deputy Chief Michael McNulty physically threw Inner City Press and its laptop out onto First Avenue in below freezing weather, without a coat. Audio here; video as UN Security turns off Inner City Press' Periscope livestream, here.

   On February 22, UN Security official Matthew Sullivan told Inner City Press it could not even be signed into UN headquarters as a guest, it was Banned from all UN premises. Audio here.

  Since then Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta urged Gallachto reverse her decision, taken without one speaking to Inner City Press concerning its January 29 attempt to cover, to pursue its series on UN corruption under Ban, an event the UN Correspondents Association held in the UN Press Brief Room. Video of that event - used against Inner City Press with no opportunity to be heard.

  Business Insider was told, by an unnamed Gallach spokesperson, that it was fine to throw out a 10-year journalist at the UN without any opportunity to be heard, article here, and on Yahoo Finance.

A petition to restore Inner City Press to access to the UN, and to its office under its long-time but stripped Resident Correspondent accreditation, is here, with 675 signatures as February 29 and comments.

The DC-based Government Accountability Project, which defends UN and other whistleblowers, has written that the ouster of Inner City Press is “retaliatory in response to independent, critical journalism.” (Dujarric, who previously “lent” the UN Press Briefing Room to his native France's President Francois Hollande, said he disagrees with GAP.)

  Ban Ki-moon, whose “victory tour” of blood-soaked northern Sri Lanka Inner City Press covered and was never forgiven for by Ban's UN, was the target of a demonstration in Jaffa for the ouster of Inner City Press.

Handwritten signs at the Jaffna protest cited back to questions about Ban accepting a Sri Lanka war crimes suspect Shavendra Silva as one of his Senior Advisers on Peacekeeping, and another suspect Palitha Kohona's involvements with the UN including the White Flag Killings with Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar.

  Inner City Press reported how Kohona got UNCA under current president Giampaoli Pioli to screen a war crimes denial film in the UN; Pioli has been Kohona's landlord but did not recuse himself or consult other UNCA member members including, at that time, Inner City Press (which quit and co-founded the Free UN Coalition for Access.)

  See photo here from the demonstration outside the UN compound in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.  There's video. An anonymous troll Twitter account which counts among its few followers Cristina Gallach, Stephane Dujarric, UNCA board members and Reuters' Lou Charbonneau says darkly this was not a spontaneous protest - whatever that means. The UN's Censorship Alliance. Haq on March 2:

On March 1 Inner City Press asked Ban's Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: on Sri Lanka, I wanted to ask you, there was a protest overnight, whatever the time difference is, at the UN compound in Jaffna by Tamils.  And I have to say, the protest was to restore full credentials to Inner City Press and open press.  You can find it, it was reported in Uthayan, which is a publication that was burned down repeatedly by the Government that's been spoken of from this podium.  So, I know that Stéphane [Dujarric] yesterday said he doesn't agree with the Government Accountability Project.  What is the UN's response to a protest at its compound in Jaffna on this topic of free press?

Spokesman Haq:  Matthew, I'm not going to comment on your personal case.

Inner City Press:  I'm asking about a protest of the UN.

Spokesman Haq:  I know that you're dealing with DPI [Department of Public Information].  While you’re…

Inner City Press:  I'm not dealing with the DPI.  They never spoke to me before they did it, and I'm asking you about a protest.  Do you have a comment?

Spokesman Haq:  I would have no comment on this, no.  Thanks.  And let's get to our guest.

But what does Ban care? He is, as usual, out of New York, on a trip in Spain where neither the King nor President is meeting with him. Ban will not even visit the headquarters of "his" MINURSO mission in El Aaiun since Morocco's King won't be there or let him.

  Beyond Ban's troubling ambivalence about war crimes, most recently for example in Yemen (which he has a pro-Saudi envoy) and Burundi (where his Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous is embroiled with the military, as it commits child rape as part of the UN mission in Central African Republic), a corruption scandal which Inner City Press is pursuing threatened to undermine Ban's plan to run for President of South Korea.

   Macao-based business man Ng Lap Seng, now under house arrest, bought a photo op with Ban, giving tens of thousands of dollars to the UN Correspondents Association, though South South News. (This is why Inner City Press sought to cover the January 29 event in the UN Press Briefing Room, openly Periscoping an event that was nowhere listed as Closed.)

Indicted Frank Lorenzo got South South News into the UNTV archives. Spokesman Dujarric has twice refused to explain this, despite being in charge of UNTV at the time.

   The UN's response has been to order an audit by its own Office of Internal Oversight Services into all UN deals with Ng's Sun Kian Ip Foundation and also-indicted Sheri Yan's Global Sustainability Foundation.

 Inner City Press has shown: Ban's wife and his adviser Vijay Nambiar, of Sri Lanka “fame,” were at the FOUNDING of this corrupt Global Sustainability Foundation. And Inner City Press after reporting this is thrown out of the UN?

After Ousting Press, Ban Ki-moon Tells Bronxites To Rise Up For Rights: Hypocrisy

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 17 -- With the UN embroiled in a corruption scandal, a guilty plea entered in the Southern District of New York on March 16 for bribery in the UN, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke at Lehman College in The Bronx on March 17.

  Many of the claims Ban made were false or incomplete. He repeatedly claimed credit for unprecedented hiring and high placement of women. But only the day before in theUN Press Briefing Room his spokesman Stephane Dujarric threw Inner City Press out of, Ban was criticized for his male envoys on Syria, Libya and Yemen.

  The UN used to have a female chief of staff and a female Deputy Secretary General; both position are now held by men.

  Ban told those at Lehman they should demand sustainable products. But in Ban's UN, the same day Dujarric threw Inner City Press out of the Press Briefing Room, Inner City Press showed Ban's climate adviser that the recycling on the UN's press floor is false. 

  Though the top of the garbage can says Cans, Paper and Waste, it all goes into the same bag, right in front of the UN Correspondents Association Ban partners with.

  Ban made a few ham-handed references to The Bronx, the cliches about the Yankees and about "new restaurants" on Arthur Avenue. He did not, it goes without saying, address his Under Secretary General for Public Information having throw out Inner City Press, Banned it from its long time office and cut its accreditation and access.

  Inner City Press expected that Ban would take questions, as he did in a recent appearance in London, for example. But an inquiry with Media Relations at Lehman College yielded that there will be no press opportunities. Then a few canned and pre-screened questions were "asked."

  When Inner City Press asked on Twitter, Why not, one of the anti-Press troll accounts set up since Ban's UN oustedInner City Press on February 19 came to Ban's defense, that it's lecture, no reason for Q&A. Really? Is The Bronx less worthy than London? Is there not more interest in Ban, given Frank Lorenzo's guilty plea on March 16?

   Ban not know it (yet), but the person he gave the UN's top Communications job to has so blatantly engaged in censorship and retaliation that the chickens, as they say, are ever closer to coming home to roost. Watch this site.

For more than six months Inner City Press has asked the UN about its dealings with Frank Lorenzo, former Deputy Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic and head of South South News, who is now pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery at the UN.

 Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who had accepted a prize from Lorenzo, never commented; Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric on February 9 told Inner City Press, “I'm done answering questions.” Vine here.

  On February 19 Inner City Press was ordered out of the UN, which it has covered for ten years as a Resident Correspondent with a shared office full of files, by a letter signed that day with two hours notice by Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach - who attended the September 2015 South South Awards with Lorenzo, photo here.

  On Gallach's order, and with the participation of Ban's spokesman Dujarric, Inner City Press was thrown out onto First Avenue along with its laptop, but without its passport still in its shared office, by eight UN Security guards.Audio here. On February 22, UN Security told Inner City Press it was Banned from all UN premises.

  After stories in BuzzFeed and Business Insider, Inner City Press re-entered the UN on a much reduced “non-resident correspondent” pass, Banned from covering such events as UN Security Council reform, Sri Lanka and terrorism, and the Office of the President of the General Assembly. (Inner City Press has continued, with sources, to report, for example here.)

  The harassment continued: hours after Inner City Press raised its case orally to Ban Ki-moon and his deputy, UN Security against physically ordered Inner City Press to leave the UN, at 8 pm.  Video here.

Dujarric said it is not his job to find Inner City Press a place to work. Q&A here. More and seemingly final threats were made on March 14 -- just before it emerged that Lorenzo is pleading guilty to bribery charges. Now what?

  The UN has proved itself unable to reform itself. Under Secretaries General Inner City Press contacted about Gallach's outrageous no due process order, and her failure to recuse herself, did nothing. One said, You can only speak with Gallach; another said, I don't get involved in individual cases.

On March 14, after the threats and asked about Inner City Press' detailed email about the violation of its rights as a journalist, a third USG said, Do you expect me to respond to that? Well, yes.

  The DC-based Government Accountability Project wrote to the US Mission to the UN urging them to work to get Inner City Press' resident correspondent accreditation and office restored. But US Ambassador for Management and Reform Isobel Coleman did not even respond to Inner City Press' detailed March 3 email; an oral question to Samantha Power at the UN Security Council stakeout on March 14 after the threats has gone unanswered. Vine here.

  Now what? Beyond Lorenzo's guilty plea, how will the UN be cleaned up? All retaliatory acts must be rescinded and appropriate impartial investigations launched.

The pretext Gallach used to oust Inner City Press was its attempt on January 29 to cover a meeting of the UN Correspondents Association, which took money from Lorenzo's South South News and then granted a photo op with Ban Ki-moon to the main funder, also indicted Ng Lap Seng.

The meeting was in the UN Press Briefing Room, apparently “lent” to UNCA by Ban's spokesman Dujarric, who at UNCA boss Giampaolo Pioli's request came in and told Inner City Press to leave so he could see his “f*cking kids.”

Inner City Press said it would leave the glassed in interpreter's booth from which it was live-streaming the meeting as soon as UN Security asked it to. One guard came in and said that Spokesman Dujarric wanted Inner City Press to leave, which it did, and published a story and video.

  Without once speaking to Inner City Press, Gallach used this “incident” as a pretext to throw Inner City Press out. Inner City Press has asked the UN the following questions:

Please explain the lending of the UN Press Briefing Room to Lorenzo, and that it was not listed in the days' UN Media Alert.

Please explain USG Gallach's appearance with Lorenzo at the South South Awards, which ICP reported, and that USG Gallach did not recuse herself from ordering Inner City Press' expulsion from its UN office on 2 hours' notice on February 19.

Please explain your [Dujarric's] role, on January 29 to February 19, in the expulsion of Inner City Press.

Please state who lend the UN Press Briefing Room to UNCA on Jan 29.

As a matter of UN ethics, shouldn't USG Gallach have offered me an opportunity to be heard, some due process?

As a matter of UN ethics, to whom an the UN Press Briefing Room be "lent," and by whom, on what basis, without disclosure?

Please provide your response: should staff of the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General, and staff of DPI, accept free liquor and other gift from UNCA, while giving UNCA the UN Press Briefing Room and ousting other journalist whom UNCA's leadership doesn't like?

Please state, no or yes and explain: Do staff of the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General provide advance copies of UN documents to favored journalists who are affiliated to UNCA?

And now: “This is a formal request for Ban Ki-moon's comment on the guilty plea for conspiracy to commit bribery etc by Frank Lorenzo.” Watch this site.