UANI Calls on Warwick Hotel and General Manager G. Paul LeBlanc to Deny Accommodation to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iranian Delegation

   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 30, 2012 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Calls on Warwick Hotel and General Manager G. Paul LeBlanc to Deny Accommodation to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iranian Delegation New York, NY - On Monday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) called on the Warwick New York Hotel, and its new General Manager G. Paul LeBlanc, to not host Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranain delegation this year during September's UN General Assembly session. Last year, UANI led a campaign against the Warwick during Ahmadinejad's stay, highlighting Warwick then-General Manager Sam Kapadia's irresponsible decision to accommodate Ahmadinejad. UANI's protest and advocacy activities resulted in a tremendous amount of bad publicity for the Warwick, and were featured in media outlets including CBS New York, AFP, NBC New York, CNN, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, The Daily Caller, CBS Radio, and the New York Post. Mr. Kapadia has since been replaced with G. Paul LeBlanc. UANI is calling on Mr. LeBlanc to make a responsible decision this year, and ensure that the Warwick does not repeat the mistakes of welcoming back the leader of a criminal regime and accepting Iranian money. In a July 30, 2012 letter sent to Mr. LeBlanc and Richard Chiu, President of Warwick International Hotels, UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, wrote:    President Ahmadinejad is theleaderofa criminal regimethat flouts international law bypursuingan illegal nuclearweapons program, sponsoringterrorism, and abusingits own citizens. For these reasons, westronglybelievethat no American-based venue should host President Ahmadinejad and his delegation. ... Simply put, you should not offer the regime accommodation nor meeting/banquet facilities to spew their propaganda. As you will surely recall during the UNGA in 2011, UANI launched a campaign against Warwick International Hotels for hosting Ahmadinejad at the Warwick New York Hotel. UANI remains disappointed that Warwick irresponsibly decided to go forward with that decision, though Warwick clearly paid for its decision to host Ahmadinejad with negative publicity and lost business. For the 2010 UNGA, the Warwick New York Hotel also chose to irresponsibly host Ahmadinejad for a "monster's ball," an event featuring extremists such as Louis Farrakhan and members of the New Black Panther Party. In the past, Ahmadinejad has routinely misused UN events as a pulpit to promote his hateful rhetoric, radical ideology and offensive theories. For example,in his speech before the General Assemblylastyear, Ahmadinejad despicablyclaimed that theU.S. orchestrated the September 11 terrorist attacks againstits own citizens, condemned the U.S. for killing Osama bin Laden and once again denied the Holocaust. ... New Yorkers,and by extension allAmericans, will nottolerate Ahmadinejad's conspiratorial claims andwillnot look kindly on anyvenues that providehimwith comfort andaccommodation duringhis stayin NewYork City. Byrefusingto host President Ahmadinejad atyourvenue,you willbejoiningmanyotherNew York-areahotels,as wellas multinational corporations including General Electric, Caterpillar, Ingersoll Rand, Bobcat, Hyundaiand Porsche, allof which haverecentlyseveredtheir business ties with theIranian regime. **** Please confirm that that your venue will not host President Ahmadinejad and his delegation.The goal of UANI's campaign is not to harm legitimate businesses. However, because of the grave threat presented by the Iranian regime, be advised that UANIwillpubliclyhighlight and condemn those hotels and venues that do not makethe proper and moral decision to refuse accommodation to Ahmadinejad and his delegation. Given your company's irresponsible choice to previously accommodate Ahmadinejad, it is essential that the Warwick Hotel now take a moral stand to correct its past errors and prove itself a responsible corporate actor. In 2010 UANI successfully isolated Ahmadinejad to the only hotel that would accept him, the Hilton Manhattan East, after the InterContinental made the decision not to accommodate the Iranian delegation. UANI launched a boycott of all Hilton Hotels properties and held a rally outside of the hotel. Responding to UANI pressure, the Hilton Manhattan East decided not to accommodate Ahmadinejad for the 2011 UNGA. In the first year of the Hotels Campaign in 2009, UANI and its supporters successfully urged The New York Helmsley Hotel, Gotham Hall and the Essex House to refuse to host Ahmadinejad, thereby denying him a platform for his hateful rhetoric. Instead, Ahmadinejad was effectively quarantined to the InterContinental The Barclay, the one hotel in New York that agreed to accommodate Iran's delegation. UANI has requested a reply from the Warwick by August 6, 2012.   Click here to read UANI's full letter to the Warwick. Click here to learn more about UANI's 2011 Warwick campaign. Click here to read Ambassador Wallace's October 2011 Op-Ed, "Rolling out the red carpet for Ahmadinejad." Click here to learn more about UANI's Hotels Campaigns. ###                                                                          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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