UANI Calls on Hispasat's Carlos Espinós Gómez to Act Responsibly, End Hispasat's Broadcast of Iranian Regime Programming

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 2012
Contact: Nathan Carleton, [email protected]
Phone: (212) 554-3296   

UANI Calls on Hispasat's Carlos Espinós Gómez to Act Responsibly, End Hispasat's Broadcast of Iranian Regime Programming

New York, NY - Today, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) called on Spain's Hispasat and its CEO, Carlos Espinós Gómez, to cease its unreasonable justifications for its business in Iran and immediately stop broadcasting Iranian regime programming.

In a November 9 letter to Gómez, UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, called on Hispasat to "cease the broadcast of all Iranian regime transmissions via the Hispasat 1C satellite, including that of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and its affiliates such as Press TV.

"[B]y providing services to the Iranian state-owned IRIB," wrote Ambassador Wallace, "Hispasat is working directly with the brutal Iranian regime. ... IRIB is notorious for broadcasting libelous programs and disseminating hate speech against religious minorities, peaceful dissidents and civil society activists ... [and] producing and broadcasting various 'show trials' of Iranian prisoners."

This week, Gómez sent a response to UANI, stating that he would notcease Hispasat's broadcast of Iranian regime programming until asked to by Spanish authorities. "[I]f such a request is made to us," wrote Gómez, "we will be delighted to collaborate with the Spanish authorities and comply with the request. ... Nevertheless we have not been notified so far."

In refusing to cease its broadcast of Iranian programming, Hispasat stands as an outlier in comparison to Hong Kong's Asiasat, Canada's Telesat, British telecommunications company Arqiva, and European satellite provider Eutelsat, who all recently ceased their broadcasting of regime programming in response to UANI.

Said Ambassador Wallace:

It is unfortunate that a prominent satellite provider like Hispasat would offer such a callous response to the international community's legitimate, moral and legal concerns with its Iran business activities. The issues involved -- nuclear weapons, freedoms, and human rights -- are too serious to be dismissed with legal parsing. If Hispasat wants to be thought of as a responsible actor, it must take responsibility for what is being broadcast on its airwaves.

It is time for Hispasat to follow the lead of its counterparts such as Intelsat, Telesat and Hispasat shareholder Eutelsat, and end its business activities in Iran, particularly given that services and technologies provided by Hispasat are being used to perpetrate terrible crimes against the people of Iran.

Click here to view UANI's letter to Hispasat.
Click here to send a message to Hispasat.

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