Iranian Scholars, Writers, and Activists in Western Europe and the U.S.A. Condemn Holocaust Denial Conference

Iranian Scholars, Writers, and Activists in Western Europe and the U.S.A. Condemn Holocaust Denial Conference

By Gholam Reza Afkhami and over one hundred others

To the Editors:

We the undersigned Iranians,

Notwithstanding our diverse views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;

Considering that the Nazis' coldly planned "Final Solution" and their ensuing campaign of genocide against Jews and other minorities during World War II constitute undeniable historical facts;

Deploring that the denial of these unspeakable crimes has become a propaganda tool that the Islamic Republic of Iran is using to further its own agendas;

Noting that the new brand of anti-Semitism prevalent in the Middle East today is rooted in European ideological doctrines of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and has no precedent in Iran's history;

Emphasizing that this is not the first time that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has resorted to the denial and distortion of historical facts;

Recalling that this government has refused to acknowledge, among other things, its mass execution of its own citizens in 1988, when thousands of political prisoners, previously sentenced to prison terms, were secretly executed because of their beliefs;

Strongly condemn the Holocaust Conference sponsored by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tehran on December 11/12, 2006, and its attempt to falsify history;

Pay homage to the memory of the millions of Jewish and non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and express our empathy for the survivors of this immense tragedy as well as all other victims of crimes against humanity across the world.

Abadi, Delnaz (Filmmaker, USA)

Abghari, Shahla (Professor, Life University, USA)

Abghari, Siavash (Professor/Chair, Department of Business Administration, Morehouse College, USA)

Afary, Janet (Faculty Scholar/Associate Professor of History, Purdue University, USA)

Afkhami, Gholam Reza (Senior Scholar, Foundation for Iranian Studies, USA)

Afkhami, Mahnaz (Executive Director, Foundation for Iranian Studies/Women's Rights Advocate, USA)

Afshar, Mahasti (Arts/Culture Executive, USA)

Afshari, Ali (Human Rights Advocate/Political Activist, USA)

Ahmadi, Ramin (Associate Professor, Yale School of Medicine/Founder, Griffin Center for Health and Human Rights, USA)

Akashe-Bohme, Farideh (Social Scientist/Writer, Germany)

Akbari, Hamid (Human Rights Advocate/Chair/Associate Professor, Department of Management and Marketing, Northeastern Illinois University, USA)

Akhavan, Payam (Jurist/Senior Fellow, Faculty of Law of McGill University, Canada)

Amin, Shadi (Journalist/Women's Rights Activist, Germany)

Amini, Bahman (Publisher, France)

Amini, Mohammad (Writer/Political Activist, USA)

Amjadi, Kurosh (Human Rights Advocate)

Apick, Mary (Actress/Playwright/Producer/Human Rights Advocate, USA)

Ashouri, Daryoush (Writer/Translator, France)

Atri, Akbar (Student Rights and Political Activist, USA)

Bagher Zadeh, Hossein (Human Rights Advocate/Former Professor, Tehran University, Great Britain)

Bakhtiari, Abbas (Musician/Director, Pouya Iranian Cultural Center, France)

Baradaran, Monireh (Human Rights Advocate/Writer, Germany)

Behnoud, Massoud (Writer/Journalist, Great Britain)

Behroozi, Jaleh (Human Rights Advocate/Iranian Mothers' Committee for Freedom, USA)

Beyzaie, Niloofar (Theater Director/Playwright, Germany)

Boroumand, Ali-Mohammad (Lawyer, France)

Boroumand, Ladan (Historian/Research Director, Boroumand Foundation, USA)

Boroumand, Roya (Historian/Human Rights Advocate, USA)

Chafiq, Chahla (Sociologist/Writer/ Women's Rights Advocate, France)

Dadsetan, Javad (Filmmaker)

Daneshvar, Abbas (Chemist, Netherlands)

Daneshvar, Hassan (Mathematician, Netherlands)

Daneshvar, Reza (Writer, France)

Davari, Arta (Painter, Germany)

Djalili, Mohammad Reza (Professor, L'Institut Universitaire de Hautes Études Internationales, Switzerland)

Ebrahimi, Farah (USA)

Eskandani, Ahmad (Entrepreneur, France)

Fani Yazdi, Reza (Political Activist, USA)

Farahmand, Fariborz (Engineer, USA)

Farssai, Fahimeh (Writer, Germany)

Ghahari, Keivandokht (Historian/Journalist, Germany)

Ghassemi, Farhang (Professor in Strategic Management, France)

Hejazi, Ghodsi (Professor/Researcher, Frankfurt University, Germany)

Hekmat, Hormoz (Human Rights Advocate/Editor, Iran Nameh, USA)

Hojat, Ali (Entrepreneur/Human Rights Advocate, Great Britain)

Homayoun, Dariush (Writer, Switzerland)

Idjadi, Didier (Professor/Associate Mayor, France)

Jahangiri, Golroch (Women's Rights Advocate, Germany)

Jahanshahi, Marjan (Professor, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Great Britain)

Karimi Hakkak (Director, Center for Persian Studies, University of Maryland, USA)

Kazemi, Monireh (Women's Rights Advocate, Germany)

Khajeh Aldin, Minoo (Painter, Germany)

Khaksar, Nasim (Writer, Germany)

Khazenie, Nahid (Remote Sensing Scientist/Program Director, NASA, USA)

Khodaparast Santner, Zari (Landscape Architect, USA)

Khonsari, Mehrdad (Political Activist, Great Britain)

Khorsandi, Hadi (Poet/Writer, Great Britain)

Khounani, Azar (Educator/Human Rights Advocate, USA)

Mafan, Massoud (Publisher, Germany)

Malakooty, Sirus (Composer/Chairman, Artists Without Frontiers, Germany)

Manafzadeh, Alireza (Writer, France)

Mazahery, Ahmad (Engineer/Political Activist, USA)

Mazahery, Lily (Lawyer, President of the Legal Rights Institute/Human Rights Advocate, USA)

Memarsadeghi, Mariam (Freedom House, USA)

Mesdaghi, Iraj (Human Rights Advocate/Writer, Sweden)

Milani, Abbas (Director, Iranian Studies Program, Stanford University, USA)

Mohyeddin, Samira (Graduate Student, University of Toronto, Canada)

Moini, Mohammadreza (Journalist/ Human Rights Advocate, RSF, France)

Molavi, Afshin (Journalist, USA)

Monzavi, Faeze (Women's Rights Advocate, Germany)

Moradi, Golmorad (Political Scientist/Translator, Germany)

Moradi, Homa (Women's Rights Advocate, Germany)

Moshaver, Ziba (London Middle East Institute, SOAS, Research Fellow, Great Britain)

Moshkin-Ghalam, Shahrokh (Ballet Dancer/Actor, France)

Mourim, Khosro (Sociologist, France)

Mozaffari, Mehdi (Professor of Political Science, Denmark)

Naficy, Majid (Poet/Writer, USA)

Nafisi, Azar (Writer/Johns Hopkins University, USA)

Nassehi, Reza (Human Rights Advocate/Translator, France)

Pakzad, Jahan (Teacher/Researcher, France)

Parham, Bagher (Writer/Translator, France)

Parsipour, Shahrnush (Writer, USA)

Parvin, Mohammad (Human Rights Advocate/Founding Director of Mehr/Adjunct Professor, California State University, USA)

Pirnazar, Jaleh (Professor, Iranian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, USA)

Pourabdollah, Farideh (Human Rights Advocate, USA)

Pourabdollah, Saeid (Human Rights Advocate, USA)

Rashid, Shahrouz (Poet/Writer, Germany)

Royaie, Yadollah (Poet, France)

Rusta, Mihan (Human Rights Advocate/Refugee Adviser, Germany)

Sadr, Hamid (Writer, Austria)

Sarchar, Houman (Independent Scholar, USA)

Sarshar, Homa (Journalist, USA)

Satrapi, Marjane (Writer, France)

Sayyad, Parviz (Actor/Playwright, USA)

Shahriari, Sheila (World Bank, USA)

Soltani, Parvaneh (Actor/Theater Director, Great Britain)

Tabari, Shahran (Journalist, Great Britain)

Taghvaie, Ahmad (Founding Member, Iranian Futurist Association, USA)

Toloui, Roya (Human Rights Advocate, USA)

Vaziri, Hellen (Germany)

Wahdat-Hagh, Wahied (Social Scientist, USA)

Zarkesh Yazdi, Fathieh (Human Rights and Refugee Rights Advocate, Great Britain)

Ziazie, Arsalan (Writer, Germany)

From the New York Review of Books, Volume 54, Number 2 (issue of February 15, 2007)