UANI Responds to MTN’s Claims that it Adheres to UN Human Rights Policies

March 14, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2012
Contact: Nathan Carleton, [email protected]
Phone: (212) 554-3296

 

UANI Responds to MTN's Claims that it Adheres to UN Human Rights Policies

 

New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, released the following statement Wednesday in response to MTN's March 12 press release, which stated that "On human rights, [MTN] takes direction from and adheres to the policies of both the South African government and the United Nations:"

 

If MTN was serious about respecting human rights, it would withdraw from Iran and stop partnering with the world's most notorious human rights violator. Taking direction from the UN on human rights would mean not partnering with a regime that executed 670 people last year and engaged in a wide range of human rights violations including abuse of minorities, homosexuals, and labor activists, according to a new UN investigation.

 

Respecting human rights would also mean not trying to whitewash what MTN is really doing in Iran. MTN is not a liberating force for the Iranian people, as it claims. On the contrary, MTN is partnered with sanctioned Iranian entities with direct links to the IRGC, and has provided the regime with location data on Iranian citizens and carried out orders to shut off text messaging. MTN must end its irresponsible business in Iran, and stop contributing to the regime's continual human rights violations.

 

This week, UN Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed released a new report to the UN Human Rights Council, which found that Iran executed 670 people last year, including homosexuals, juveniles, and religious minorities.

 

UANI launched its MTN campaign in January, and has run online and Facebook advertisements highlighting MTN's work in Iran. MTN Irancell is the second-largest mobile phone network operator in Iran, and the majority of its shares are owned by the Iranian regime, which has exploited MTN's network and technology to monitor and track the activities and communications of peaceful dissidents.

 

Click here to read UANI's February 29 letter to MTN.

Click here to read UANI's January 25 letter to MTN.

Click here and here to see UANI's MTN advertisements.

Click here to send a message to MTN.
Click here to read the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran.

 

###