UANI Calls on MTN to Clarify Whether It is Helping the Iranian Regime Provide Surveillance and Tracking Equipment to Syria

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 10, 2012 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com  Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Calls on MTN to Clarify Whether It is Helping the Iranian Regime Provide Surveillance and Tracking Equipment to Syria New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, issued the following statement Wednesday calling on MTN to clarify its role in Iran's reported provision of surveillance and tracking equipment to the Assad regime in Syria: We call on MTN to immediately clarify whether it is aiding the Iranian regime in providing surveillance and tracking equipment to Syria. MTN is a partner of the Iranian regime, through its 49% stake in the Iranian stated-owned mobile network, MTN Irancell. MTN is also a 75% owner of MTN Syria, the country's second-largest mobile operator. MTN Syria has reportedly blocked text messages at the behest of Syrian intelligence and security forces and cut off internet and cell phone coverage prior to assaults by the Syrian military. MTN must state for the record whether its technology, personnel, or other services are involved in the Syrian regime's crackdown of opposition forces. It is widely known that MTN has carried out orders from the Iranian regime to shut off text messaging and Skype during times of political protest in Iran, and reportedly has a floor in its Tehran headquarters where Iranian military officials compile and access data to track, apprehend, torture, and murder regime opponents. MTN has blood on its hands from assisting the Iranian and Syrian regimes in brutalizing their own people. We call for a global boycott of MTN's products and services and divestment from its stock, until it ends its reckless partnership with the Iranian and Syrian regimes. We also call on the Obama administration to immediately sanction MTN and its networks in Iran and Syria-MTN Irancell and MTN Syria. It is unacceptable that MTN, a complicit partner of the Iranian and Syrian regimes, is still able to raise capital in the U.S., and has not had its assets and property blocked by the U.S. government. MTN was a charter member of UANI's Iran Business Registry, launched in 2009, and is a continuing focus of UANI's Tech & Telecom Campaign. 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. ###  United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons. The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad; Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world; Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran; Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies; Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and; Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures. UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country.

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