HRF to Appear Tonight with Robert Morgenthau on Fox Business News with David Asman

NEW YORK (September 9, 2009) - Human Rights Foundation President Thor Halvorssen will appear tonight on Fox Business News with David Asman alongside fellow guest Robert M. Morgenthau, New York County District Attorney. They will discuss the alarming and growing relationship between the governments of Venezuela and Iran – governments that routinely and systematically violate human rights. The show airs tonight at 7:00 PM EST.

Investigations by Mr. Morgenthau's office have suggested that the ties between Venezuela and Iran reach beyond their economic cooperation and purported search for an alternative to so-called American "imperialism" to include illicit financial activities, the development of nuclear weapons, and an involvement with the drug trade. President Chávez was an outspoken supporter of Iranian President Ahmadinejad in the aftermath of the highly contested Iranian elections earlier this year and one of his only three supporters when members of the U.N. Atomic Energy Agency moved to sanction Iran for its nuclear program in 2006. The collaboration between the two governments, which imprison dissidents, shut down independent media, torture opponents, and finance the activities of other human rights violators, could result in disastrous consequences for Latin America and the Middle East.

HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending human rights in the Americas. It centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries; HRF’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. HRF does not support nor condone violence. HRF’s International Council includes former prisoners of conscience Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Ramón J. Velásquez, Elie Wiesel, and Harry Wu.

Contact: Thor Halvorssen, Human Rights Foundation, (+212)246.8486, info@thehrf.org