Press Releases :: September 25, 2008

T.Q. Houlton 202-225-7882

Tancredo Condemns Ahmadinejad Meeting

Calls on Justice Department to investigate religious groups

( WASHINGTON, DC ) – U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton) condemned a dinner meeting honoring Iranian Dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and called on the Department of Justice to investigate those hosting it for potential violations of federal law.

 

The event is scheduled for Thursday night in New York City. The groups behind the event to honor Ahmadinejad are the American Friends Service Committee, Mennonite Central Committee, Quaker United Nations Office, Religions for Peace and the World Council of Churches.

 

“The fact that these groups are honoring a man who is directly responsible for the deaths of American soldiers is shocking and reprehensible,” said Tancredo. “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be arrested for human rights abuses, not honored.”

 

“The actions of those hosting this gruesome party aren’t just anti-American, they might also be illegal,” Tancredo said. “I am calling on the Justice Department to initiate an investigation into whether or not the Logan Act or laws against providing material support for terrorism have been violated.”

 

The Logan Act states that, “any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”

 

Federal law also stipulates that any person who, “knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined [$50,000] under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both.” (18 USC 2339)

Iran has been on the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism since 1984.

“Honoring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his contributions to world peace is a little like recognizing Adolf Hitler for his contribution to religious and racial harmony,” said Tancredo. “It is beyond me how these groups could pay homage to this brutal dictator and serial human rights violator.”

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