FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 1, 2014
MEDIA CONTACT:
Alison Howard
202-266-4816
ahoward@cwfa.org
PRESS RELEASE
Iran Names 1979 U.S. Embassy Hostage-Taker Its UN Envoy
CWA Urges Obama Administration to Deny Visa to Former Iranian Student Involved in U.S. Hostage Siege, Now Named UN Ambassador
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Concerned Women for America (CWA), the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization, responds to news that the Iranian government has applied for a U.S. visa for Hamid Aboutalebi, one of the extremist students who seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. National sovereignty is one of Concerned Women for America’s seven core issues, which includes an independence from U.N. coercion. Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, responds:
“Iran’s appointment of Hamid Aboutalebi to New York as a new U.N. ambassador is a slap in the face to the 52 American diplomats held hostage in Tehran in 1979. As a nation, we were traumatized and humiliated by the treatment of our citizens at the hands of violent extremists. While a member of the Muslim Students Following the Imam’s Line, Hamid Aboutalebi abused 52 innocent Americans by taking away their freedom for more than a year. To give this enemy of our nation a visa would be an act of disloyalty and the ultimate example of spineless foreign policy. Not since Jimmy Carter has the United States’ standing in the world been so devalued. Anyone old enough during the hostage crisis remembers how heartbreaking, humiliating, and maddening the hostage crisis was to our nation. The 52 American hostages and their families deserve our respect and protection from further pain. Now is the time for steadfast leadership on the part of the Obama Administration. This criminal should not be allowed to set one foot on our shore.”
If you would like an interview with Penny Nance, please contact Alison Howard at ahoward@cwfa.org or 202-266-4816.
Concerned Women for America is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization with 500,000 participating members across the country, over 450 Prayer/Action Chapters and Home Teams, 600 trained leaders and over 30 years of service to our nation.
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