09-03-2006, 01:33 PM
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--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> Iran, Annan differ on Holocaust
[ 3 Sep, 2006 1447hrs ISTAFP ]
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TEHRAN: Iran said on Sunday the scale of the Holocaust has been "greatly exaggerated" as it brushed off criticism from visiting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan over a controversial exhibition of cartoons on the subject.
Annan had on Saturday told Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki that he condemned a "distasteful" exhibition currently on display in Tehran of cartoons depicting the Holocaust, according to his spokesman.
"Just has he condemned the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Denmark he condemns these. He condemns anything that is inciteful to hatred," spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.
But Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, who said he had visited several former concentration camps in eastern Europe, said that all points of view could be expressed in the name of freedom of expression.
"We said that organising an exhibition is a right of freedom of expression and the Holocaust is not a sacred question that cannot be approached," said Hamid Reza Asefi.
"Annan expressed his point of view and we expressed ours."
Iran's fiercely anti-Israeli regime is supportive of so-called Holocaust revisionists, who maintain the systematic slaughter by the Nazis of mainland Europe's Jews and other groups during World War II was either invented or
exaggerated.
Asefi's comments come ahead of a conference to be held on December 11-12 in Iran which the Islamic Republic hopes will present "hidden aspects" of the slaughter of Jews under Nazi Germany.
"When I was ambassador I saw several of these camps in (the former) East Germany and Poland. In my opinion it has been greatly exaggerated. It is far from what is being publicised," Asefi said.
"Different opinions which affirm and reject the Holocaust can attend the conference, the Holocaust is not something that cannot be discussed," he said.
The Holocaust has been described by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "myth".
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> Iran, Annan differ on Holocaust [ 3 Sep, 2006 1447hrs ISTAFP ]
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
TEHRAN: Iran said on Sunday the scale of the Holocaust has been "greatly exaggerated" as it brushed off criticism from visiting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan over a controversial exhibition of cartoons on the subject.
Annan had on Saturday told Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki that he condemned a "distasteful" exhibition currently on display in Tehran of cartoons depicting the Holocaust, according to his spokesman.
"Just has he condemned the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Denmark he condemns these. He condemns anything that is inciteful to hatred," spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.
But Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, who said he had visited several former concentration camps in eastern Europe, said that all points of view could be expressed in the name of freedom of expression.
"We said that organising an exhibition is a right of freedom of expression and the Holocaust is not a sacred question that cannot be approached," said Hamid Reza Asefi.
"Annan expressed his point of view and we expressed ours."
Iran's fiercely anti-Israeli regime is supportive of so-called Holocaust revisionists, who maintain the systematic slaughter by the Nazis of mainland Europe's Jews and other groups during World War II was either invented or
exaggerated.
Asefi's comments come ahead of a conference to be held on December 11-12 in Iran which the Islamic Republic hopes will present "hidden aspects" of the slaughter of Jews under Nazi Germany.
"When I was ambassador I saw several of these camps in (the former) East Germany and Poland. In my opinion it has been greatly exaggerated. It is far from what is being publicised," Asefi said.
"Different opinions which affirm and reject the Holocaust can attend the conference, the Holocaust is not something that cannot be discussed," he said.
The Holocaust has been described by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "myth".