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Iran to host Holocaust conference

Updated: 16/Jan/2006 16:40

French revisionist scholar Robert Faurisson

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Iran is planning to host a Holocaust conference in Tehran to “re-examine the history of the genocide of the Jews during the Second World War”.

The announcement follows recent comments made by the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad questioning the events of the Holocaust.

Following his comments that Israel should be wiped off the map, president Ahmadinejad last month declared that the Holocaust was “a myth”, used by the West to create a Jewish state in the heart of the Muslim world.

He called for Germany or the US to provide land for a Jewish state.

“Useful and necessary”

The Association of Islamic Journalists will organise the conference. On the list of invitees will be Holocaust revisionist scholars from around the globe.

Mehdi Afzali, spokesperson of the Association of Islamic Journalists, said: “President Ahmadinejad has placed at the centre of international attention a very important question on the truthfulness of the version that Europe and the Zionists have imposed on the world on the murder of Jews during the years of the great war.”

Horst Mahler, right-wing German lawyer

He added: “Therefore we are of the opinion that it is useful and necessary to organise an international conference on that theme, where all the historians and researchers, even those that do not believe in the official version, will be able to express themselves freely.”

Expected to attend the conference are Horst Mahler, a disbarred right-wing German lawyer and former member of the terrorist Red Army, Israel Shamir, a Christian convert and anti-Zionist with alleged links to British far-right groups.

Revisionist scholars Robert Faurisson from France and Arthur Butz from the US are also expected to attend.

It is believed British revisionist historian David Irving, currently in custody in Austria on charges of Holocaust denial, is also to be invited. His literature is widely available in Iran.

“We will invite those who believe in the imposed version as well as all those who have spent years of their lives in the study of documents related to the Holocaust and have come to the conclusion that the history books in schools and universities do not correspond to the truth,” said Afzali.

Cause for concern

	Germany seeks unlikely joint EU condemnation
	Austrians charge Irving for Holocaust denial
	British Holocaust denier Irving arrested in Austria
	Belgian Holocaust denier arrested
	Founder of Swedish radio station supports Iranian President

“We want to offer a free and democratic platform to the historians to examine in-depth this myth, seeing that in different European countries there exist laws against democracy and freedom that to do not allow intellectuals who believe in a version distinct from that which is officially pronounced on the Holocaust,” added Afzali.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the world should be very concerned about Iran’s radical ideology. He said: “The Holocaust denial by the regime in Iran is not only offensive and racist, but it also demonstrates the mindset of the extremist regime in Tehran.”

Regev added: “The combination of an extremist ideology, a distorted view of reality, together with nuclear weapons is a combination that should concern every thinking individual.”

Last year the UN passed a resolution establishing 27 January as an international day for Holocaust remembrance.

Day in history

24 July 1934
The Nazis attempt to overthrow the Austrian government. Chancellor Dollfus is assassinated, but the putsch failed and Kurt von Schuschnigg was appointed Chancellor. He in turn tried his best to curtail Nazi influence in Austria.