By Country / Iran
Israeli Lawyer Files Suit Against Iranian President For Holocaust Denial
February 23, 2006
Ahmadinejad addressing an anti-Zionism conference in Tehran in October 2005 (Fars)
23 February 2006 -- An Israeli lawyer has filed a criminal indictment with German federal prosecutors charging Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad with the crime of Holocaust denial.
Israeli lawyer Ervin Eran Shahar filed the indictment on behalf of the Civil Coalition, a civil rights nongovernmental organization active in Israel and elsewhere.
German prosecutors confirmed that they had received the complaint. A spokeswoman declined further comment.
Ahmadinejad has repeatedly expressed doubt that 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II.
Denial of the Holocaust is a crime in Germany punishable with up to five years in prison.
(Reuters)