Iran Holocaust conference condemned

The EU's top justice official today condemned Iran for hosting a conference of Holocaust deniers,.

The EU's top justice official today condemned Iran for hosting a conference of Holocaust deniers, .

"I want to state my firm condemnation of any attempt to deny, trivialise or minimise the Shoah, war crimes and crimes against humanity," EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini said in a statement.

He said the conference, initiated by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, showed an "utter disregard of historically established facts" and was "an unacceptable affront not only to the victims of that tragedy and their descendants, but also to the whole democratic world".

The two-day conference in Tehran, which ends today, drew sceptics from across the world to debate whether the genocide of Jews took place, a meeting that Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called a "sick phenomenon."

Mr Ahmadinejad has described the Holocaust as a "myth" and called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

Earlier this year, his government backed an exhibition of anti-Israel cartoons after Danish cartoons caricaturing Islam's Prophet Mohammed were published in Europe, raising an outcry among Muslims.

AP

  • Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date

  • Sign up for push alerts to get the best breaking news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone

  • Listen to In The News podcast daily for a deep dive on the stories that matter