*Protest against Marriott Hotels By S.O.S. Iran*

[Liberator]

Protest against Marriott Hotels By S.O.S. Iran

Source URL: http://www.sosiran.com/Documents/Marriott.pdf

From: The Office of
Iran of Tomorrow Movement
To : John. W. Marriott Jr., CEO
Marriott International, Inc.
10400 Fernwood Dr.
Bethesda, MD 20817


January 28, 2005

It has recently come to our attention that the Director of the Interests Section of the
Islamic Republic of Iran in Washington D.C., Mr. Ali Jazini, has reserved a large
section of the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center for a celebration
of the “Twenty Sixth Anniversary of the glorious victory of the Islamic
Revolution in Iran.â€

[Liberator]

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0205/204841.html

Bethesda, Md. (AP) - A Bethesda hotel has canceled a
dinner purportedly celebrating the anniversary of the
Islamic revolution in Iran.

Marriott International cited federal law that forbids
U.S. companies from working with the Iranian
government as the reason.

The event at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and
Conference Center was organized by the Iranian
government's diplomatic mission in Washington. It was
booked several months ago, but Marriott officials
canceled it recently after learning of the Iranian
government's role from a group that had planned to
protest the event.

The United States severed diplomatic relations with
Iran in 1980.

[Liberator]

Islamist Celebration Canceled
Md. Facility Booked for Revolution's Anniversary

By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 4, 2005; Page A05

http://www.activistchat.com/phpBB2/viewtop...opic.php?t=4977


A celebration scheduled for this weekend at Montgomery
County's new hotel and conference center, marking the 26th
anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Iran, was canceled
after the hotel's operator learned that it would violate
federal law.

The Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center,
which opened in December, was to play host to 1,000 guests at
a reception thrown by Ali Jazini, director of the Interests
Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran.


John Wolf, a Marriott spokesman, said yesterday that the
hotel canceled the event after realizing it is illegal to do
business with Iran. He said Marriott officials will "be
taking steps" to prevent similar bookings in the future.

Announcement of the event raised an outcry from Iranian
opponents of the country's regime who live in the United
States. They organized a campaign calling on Marriott to
cancel.

"For them to come celebrate the anniversary of their glorious
revolution in the United States is just wrong," said Iman
Foroutan, director of the Iran of Tomorrow Movement, an
American-based organization working to oust Iran's
fundamentalist regime. "If they allowed this, I would not be
surprised if al Qaeda celebrated their next anniversary in
the heart of New York."

In a letter sent this week to Marriott officials and Homeland
Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Foroutan cited an order from
then-President Bill Clinton designating Iran as "an
extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy
and economy" of the United States. The letter went on to say
that it is illegal for Iran to do business within the borders
of the United States.

Foroutan, whose Los Angeles-based group operates a satellite
television station, said Iranian dissidents were planning to
picket outside the conference center.

Feb. 11 is an Iranian holiday marking the fall of the
government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979. In November
of that year, militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran,
taking hostages and triggering a 444-day crisis for President
Jimmy Carter, during which he severed diplomatic ties with
Iran. The ordeal ended when President Ronald Reagan took
office in January 1981.

In his State of the Union address Wednesday, President Bush
said Iran "remains the world's primary state sponsor of
terror -- pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its people
of the freedom they seek and deserve."

Iran maintains a presence in the United States by operating
an office from the Pakistani Embassy. Calls to the Iranian
Interest Section were not returned yesterday.

The $80 million Marriott conference center is a signature
initiative of Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan
(D), designed as a place where civic organizations and
businesses can meet.

Although $40 million in state and county money was used to
construct it, Marriott books all the events, said David
Weaver, a Duncan spokesman.

"We are not in the booking business," Weaver said.