Iran Opens Controversial Holocaust Cartoon Exhibition

An anti-Israel banner in Tehran during a demonstration in July (Fars)

August 14, 2006 -- An exhibition of more than 200 cartoons about the Holocaust opened today in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Participants include cartoonists from Iran and foreign countries, such as the United States, Indonesia, and Turkey.

The Iranian newspaper "Hamshahri," which co-sponsored the event, says the exhibition is aimed at testing the West's tolerance for drawings about the killing of 6 million Jews by the Nazis during World War II.

The event is also designed as a response to the outrage caused among Muslims last year by Western caricatures of the Phophet Muhammad.

According to AP, the display is strongly influenced by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's negationist comments about the Holocaust.

Several Iranian intellectuals -- including Emadoddin Baghi, a journalist close to former President Mohammad Khatami -- have criticized the exhibition.

The exhibition will run until September 13. It is being held at the Museum of Palestininian Contemporary Art.

In other news, Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki met with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem in Algiers today.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said the two men reviewed bilateral issues and the situation in Lebanon, and Belkhadem reportedly called for cooperation between Tehran and Algiers in the oil and gas sector.

Mottaki, who is on a regional tour of Middle Eastern and North African countries, was due to hand over a message from Iranian President Ahmadinejad to his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

(IRNA, AP)