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Iran to hold Holocaust conference next week

06 Dec 2006 13:40:20 GMT
Source: Reuters

TEHRAN, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Ministry will hold a conference next week at which scholars from 30 countries will discuss the scale of the Holocaust -- dismissed as a myth by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- and whether the Nazis really used gas chambers to kill Jews.

Deputy Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mohammadi said 67 researchers from countries including Britain, Germany and France would take part in the two-day meeting starting on Monday, according to Wednesday's Jomhuri-ye Eslami newspaper.

Ahmadinejad caused international outrage last year when he said the Holocaust -- in which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis -- was a myth. He has not repeated that remark but has said the Holocaust is open to question.

Mohammadi said the aim of the conference, dubbed "Holocaust, World Prospect", was to give scholars a chance to discuss the issue freely.

"The conference will focus on the Holocaust without getting involved in political issues or propaganda," Mohammadi said. "... various issues will be examined, including whether the gas chambers were actually used by Nazis."

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who visited Iran in September, told Iranians the Holocaust was "an undeniable historical fact".

Earlier this year Tehran held an international contest for cartoons on the Holocaust, awarding the top prize to a Moroccan. The competition sparked outrage in Israel, the West and among Jewish groups.

Iran organised the contest after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, leading to violent protests by Muslims in many countries in which more than 50 people were killed.

Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany and Austria.

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Last updated:Wed Dec 6 13:42:58 2006