UANI Calls on Liebherr to End Its Business in Iran as Part of Ongoing Cranes Campaign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2011
Contact: Nathan Carleton, [email protected]  
Phone: (212) 554-3296 
 

UANI Calls on Liebherr to End Its Business in Iran as Part of Ongoing Cranes Campaign

New York, NY -  United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) on Thursday called on Swiss-German construction equipment manufacturer Liebherr to end its business dealings in Iran. As one of Iran's largest suppliers of cranes, Liebherr is enabling the Iranian regime to continue its brutal execution binge, which includes the hanging of civilians from construction cranes.

According to its website, Liebherr sells equipment in Iran through the Tehran-based Boron Marz Co. Similarly, the Iranian company Shenavar Saze Pooyesh describes itself as the exclusive agent of Liebherr-Werk Nenzing, the Austrian subsidiary of Liebherr. Particularly troubling, the government of Germany has expressed concerns about the possibility of Liebherr cranes being used by blacklisted Iranian shell companies to support Tehran's missile program.

The UANI "Cranes Campaign" highlights the Iranian regime's abhorrent executions by hanging from construction cranes, and the disturbing reality that these cranes are coming from Western and Asian companies.  Iran has set a blistering pace of executions in the first months of 2011, with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran proclaiming that the regime is on an "execution binge." 

Yesterday, Amnesty International reported that Iran has publicly hanged nearly as many of its citizens this year as it did in all of 2010. Quoted by Reuters, Amnesty official Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said, "It is deeply disturbing that despite a moratorium on public executions ordered in 2008, the Iranian authorities are once again seeking to intimidate people by such spectacles which not only dehumanize the victim, but brutalize those who witness it."

In a letter to Liebherr Chairman of the Board Willi Liebherr, UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace wrote:    

[I]t is important to recognize how Liebherr's association with the Iranian regime can have lasting damage on Liebherr's public image.  Given the threat posed by Iran's pursuit of an illegal nuclear weapons program, sponsorship of terrorism, and egregious human rights record, it is only natural that citizens and governments around the world are scrutinizing ever more closely the activities of companies in Iran.  
 

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UANI calls upon Liebherr to join other responsible corporations and end its business operations in Iran.  In so doing, Liebherr can help put pressure on the Iranian regime and persuade them to change course and abandon policies running directly counter to the values of the civilized world.  More importantly, by joining other construction companies and pulling out of Iran, Liebherr avoids any possibility of having its brand name associated with Iran's grisly practice of public executions by hanging or development of Iran's weapons of mass destruction program or oil and gas sectors, which fund Iran's international terrorism and illicit nuclear program.

Responsible corporations, notably construction companies Caterpillar, Terex, and Komatsu, have already complied with UANI's call to pull out of Iran.  In addition to Liebherr, as part of the Cranes Campaign UANI is also calling on Manitowoc, a U.S. cranes company, and foreign equipment manufacturers such as Tadano (Japan), UNIC (Japan), Cargotec (Finland), Konecranes (Finland), XCMG (China), Kobelco (Japan), Zoomlion (China) and Gottwald (Germany) to account for their business in Iran and the likelihood that their cranes are being used for public executions.

Click here to send a message to Liebherr.
Click here to read the letter to Liebherr.
Click here to learn more about UANI's Cranes Campaign.