May 22, 2019
46 Civil Society Leaders Signed Letter to Urge Law Firm to Stop Promoting Interests of China, Qatar and Saudi Arabia
WASHINGTON—Earlier this month, 46 civil society leaders representing Christians, Muslims, Falun Gong practitioners, Buddhists and other persecuted faith communities signed a joint letter asking prominent law firm Squire Patton Boggs, LLP, to stop promoting the interests of Communist China, Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—countries known for gross violations of human rights and oppression of religious freedoms.
Now, more than 5,000 on Capitol Hill, including Representatives, Senators, their staff and others, have also received the letter and have been informed about the accountability campaign to implore Squire Patton Boggs to stop its representation of these nations. Dede Laugesen, executive director of Save the Persecuted Christians, one of the organizers of the initiative, said more than 1,000 have opened the emailed correspondence so far.
“We write to you as advocates for religious freedom out of a shared concern that foreign governments represented by your firm are among the world’s most aggressive persecutors of people of faith,” the letter to Squire Patton Boggs read. “It is deeply troubling to us that your prestigious firm and the many good people it employs are currently associated with and providing legal counsel, representation and other services to such nations.”
On May 1, several signers to the letter and other civil society leaders gathered to announce the effort during a news conference at the National Press Club, where they communicated that at no time in history have religious minorities been more oppressed and systematically persecuted. The U.S. Department of State’s Office of International Religious Freedom reports more than 80 percent of the world’s population, in a record number of countries, face oppression directly related to belief and religious practices.
Among the worst of the perpetrators of such crimes against humanity are regimes represented by Squire Patton Boggs, which includes, in addition to the PRC, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the Palestinian Authority.
Participating in the press conference was Hon. Frank Wolf—one of the most respected former members of Congress and the author of the International Religious Freedom Act—who said, “The world must speak out. And no law firm should represent a country that is taking Uyghur Muslim children and women and putting them in internment camps modeled after what Mao and Stalin did. … During the Carter administration and during the Reagan administration, no law firm or public relations group in this city would have ever represented the Soviet Union. There’s been a shift.
“How could they not know? There’s a song by Simon and Garfunkel that says, ‘A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.’ How can you disregard what’s taking place in China to the Uyghurs? … So, we call on this law firm—and there are many good people in this law firm—we call on them to drop China, to drop Saudi Arabia and to drop Qatar as clients.”
View the joint letter online here, and watch videos of the presenters at the May 1 press conference here.
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To interview a Save the Persecuted Christians representative, contact Media@HamiltonStrategies.com