Iran's Holocaust meeting forms global committee

Tehran: A conference in Iran that drew widespread condemnation for questioning the killing of 6 million Jews by the Nazis during Second World War agreed yesterday to form an international committee to study the Holocaust.

Iran says it organised the conference to shed light on the reasons behind the formation of the state of Israel after the Second World War and to allow researchers from countries where it is a crime to question the Holocaust to speak freely.

The Vatican, Germany and European Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini added their voices yesterday to others such as the United States and Israel who have condemned the conference.

The conference was inspired by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who since coming to power in August last year has caused an international outcry by terming the Holocaust a "myth" and calling Israel a "tumour".

The head of the new committee, identified as Iranian academic Mohammad Ali Ramin, said its members were "not racist or opposed to any particular group".

"Rather they are just seeking the truth to set humanity truly free," the ISNA students news agency quoted him as saying, without naming the committee members. Robert Faurisson, a French scholar, said the committee included members from the US, France, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Iran, Bahrain and Syria, ISNA reported.

Warning: 'Those who disregard threats are doomed'

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, on a state visit to Berlin yesterday, drew a thinly veiled parallel between the slaughter of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust and Iran's threats to wipe Israel off the map, saying those who disregard threats of annihilation are "doomed."

"We have learned and memorised the lesson; the weak and defenceless are doomed," he said after visiting a memorial at Grunewald train station.

- AP