Controversies of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Controversies of the former
Early student activism
According to Iran Focus, soon after attending Elm-o Sanaat University in 1975 to study engineering, Ahmadinejad was caught up in the
In voting for storming the US embassy, Ahmadinejad objected, arguing that the protest ought to be directed at the Soviet embassy, but they were outvoted. Ahmadinejad has said that he did not support the embassy takeover until Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini endorsed it. The endorsement came late on November 4, 1979, the day the embassy was seized.[2]
According to al-Jazeera, when OSU leaders proposed taking over the US embassy in 1979, Ahmadinejad proposed taking over the Soviet embassy at the same time.[3]
Kurdish-Austrian accusations
This allegation has been denied by several sources in Iran, including
Reuters has mentioned that information [Pilz] received from an "extraordinarily credible" informer, an Iranian journalist living in
Alleged election fraud
During the
Some political groups, including the reformist party
On 10 January 2006, Ahmadinejad declared that his government is following the "religious mission" initiated by
Denial of the Holocaust
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has issued a number of statements claiming The Holocaust as is commonly accepted is "a myth"[12] and "a lie".[13] His words have been publicly repudiated by world leaders from many countries including the United States,[14] the United Kingdom,[15] Germany,[15] France,[15] and others, including Iranian academics and expatriates.[16]
In a speech given at the Columbia University on Sep, 24, 2007, Ahmadinejad stated that he did not deny the Holocaust, but didn't see what was wrong with asking questions about it.[17]
In September 2009, in response to the international outrage, Ahmadinejad was reported to say that the angering of "professional man-slayers is a source of pride for us and will not stand in our way."[18]
Banning of Western music
In December 2005, President Ahmadinejad banned Western and "offensive" music from state-run radio and television stations. The ban follows a ruling in October by the Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council to ban Western songs from Iranian airwaves.[19]
Popular forms of Western music (hip-hop, rock, jazz) have been banned in Iran for many years, since the days of Khomeini. At the same time, some forms of western music, such as classical music, are regularly aired on state radios.
Relations with the foreign press
On 16 January 2006, Cable News Network (CNN) was temporarily banned in Iran by the Iranian Ministry of Culture, after misreporting the remarks by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made during a press conference held on 14 January 2006. The president, talking to domestic and foreign reporters, said the peaceful use of nuclear energy is a right which Iran cannot be denied. However, a CNN interpreter incorrectly quoted Ahmadinejad as saying "the use of nuclear weapons is Iran's right." CNN later apologised for its mistake. Ahmadinejad allowed CNN to resume broadcasting on 17 January 2006 after the apology.[20] In his letter to the Minister of Culture, he wrote 'We believe that accurate dissemination of news and information is necessary for political growth and awareness as well as effective interaction among nations in today's world.
Since the Iranian Revolution, no Iranian reporters have been allowed to enter the United States or take part in a press conference of the U.S. President. Reporters employed by the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) have only been allowed to cover United Nations events and are only able to travel within a 17-mile (27.4-kilometer) radius of New York City. For this reason several IRIB reporters criticised President Ahmadinejad on his support for CNN.[21]
Blocking of major websites
A campaign led by Ahmadinejad attempts to free the country of Western cultural influences, via the Internet. Human rights groups, YouTube and b3ta are amongst the major Web sites blocked. Reporters Without Borders called Iran, along with 13 other countries, "enemies of the Internet" in November 2006.[22]
Iran has about 23 million Internet users[23] which is the highest number of web users in the Middle East.[24] The country also has more than 100,000 bloggers, some of which are substitutes for Iran's suppressed, reformist press.[citation needed]
Critics accuse Iran of using filtering technology to censor more sites than any country, except the
Eschatology
Ahmadinejad's
On the last day when I was speaking before the assembly, one of a country's group told me that when I started to say "In the name of God the almighty and merciful," he saw a light around me, and I was placed inside this aura. I felt it myself.
I felt the atmosphere suddenly change, and for those 27 or 28 minutes, the leaders of the world did not blink. When I say they didn't bat an eyelid, I'm not exaggerating because I was looking at them. And they were rapt.
It seemed as if a hand was holding them there and had opened their eyes to receive the message from the Islamic republic.[27]
Former CIA officer Robert Baer said, in the context of evaluating a nuclear strike on Iran, that Ahmadinejad and others in the Iranian government are "apocalyptic Shiites." He continues, "If you’re sitting in Tel Aviv and you believe they’ve got nukes and missiles — you’ve got to take them out. These guys are nuts and there's no reason to back off."[28]
Some have conjectured that his actions are strictly a means of bolstering his standing among devout Muslims, and cannot be interpreted as the existence of an "apocalyptic Shiite" group.[29]
Columbia University
On September 24, 2007, Ahmadinejad appeared at Columbia University. President Lee Bollinger received harsh criticism for inviting such a controversial figure to Columbia. He responded in a statement saying "The event will be part of the annual World Leaders Forum, the University-wide initiative intended to further Columbia’s longstanding tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate, especially on global issues,"[30] and also for closing the area to outside protesters.[31]
Columbia University's president, Lee Bollinger, introduced Ahmadinejad with a combative tone: "Mr. President you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator." Ahmadinejad responded by opening his speech saying that his introduction was "an insult to information and knowledge of the audience there." Some of his arguments were met with derisive laughter, for example "... in Iran we don't have homosexuals, like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who told you that we have it."[32] An aide later claimed that he was misrepresented and was saying that "compared to American society, we don't have many homosexuals".[33]
He however was applauded when he spoke about the Palestinian peoples' right to
See also
References
- ^ "Iran Focus". Iran Focus. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
- ^ "Mahmoud the Bashful". The Atlantic. October 2005. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
- ^ "Aljazeera.Net - Profile: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad". Archived from the original on May 19, 2006. Retrieved May 15, 2006.
- ^ "PDKI - Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan - WELCOME". Pdk-iran.org (in French). Retrieved 2016-05-12.
- ^ "Iran's Call for the Destruction of Israel". Worldpress.org. Retrieved October 30, 2005.
- ^ "Israel urges UN to exclude Iran". BBC. 2005-10-27. Retrieved October 27, 2005.
- ^ Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Humanitarian | Thomson Reuters Foundation News". Alertnet.org. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
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has generic name (help) - ^ "U.S.: Man in photo not Ahmadinejad -". Archived from the original on November 11, 2005. Retrieved April 14, 2006.
- ^ "متن کامل بيانيه هاشمی رفسنجانی" (in Persian). BBC. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
- ^ "Gooya news :: Politics : احمدي نژاد: دستهاي مكار و وابسته دنبال حذف امثال نواب صفوي بودهاند، ايسنا". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved January 15, 2006.
- ^ John Pike (2001-04-30). "RFE/RL Iran Report". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
- ^ "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial". The Week. September 18, 2009. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejed must crave international criticism, said Alan Cowell in The New York Times. The Iranian president "on Friday called the Holocaust a myth as his country marked an annual pro-Palestinian demonstration." Ahmadinejad also said confronting Israel was a national and religious duty. His latest Holocaust denial, coming just days before talks between his government and Western powers, "seemed likely to cast a cloud" on hopes for reining in Iran's nuclear program.
- ^ Worth, Robert F. (September 18, 2009). "Despite Warning, Thousands Rally in Iran". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
He used the annual rally for Jerusalem Day, also known as Quds Day, to deliver a fiery anti-Israeli speech in which he called the Holocaust "a lie" and impugned the West again for its criticisms of Iran's disputed June 12 presidential election.…Mr. Ahmadinejad said that confrontation with Israel was a "national and religious duty" and that the Holocaust was "a lie" that was used as a pretext for the country's creation in 1948. Although he has called the Holocaust a "myth" in the past, provoking angry reactions in the West, he has rarely if ever used the word "lie" in public speeches.
and asks people to educate themselves on both sides of the issue. - ^ Worth, Robert F. (September 18, 2009). "Despite Warning, Thousands Rally in Iran". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
The White House responded sharply to the remarks about the Holocaust. "We've heard that type of rhetoric before," the president's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, told reporters. "Obviously, we condemn what he said."
- ^ a b c Fathi, Nazila (December 13, 2006). "Holocaust Deniers and Skeptics Gather in Iran". The New York Times. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain called it "shocking beyond belief," Agence France-Presse reported. "I think it is such a symbol of sectarianism and hatred towards people of another religion, I find it just unbelievable." The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, condemned "in the strongest terms" dismissals of the Holocaust by "revisionist" historians, and the Vatican described the Holocaust as an "appalling tragedy to which one cannot remain indifferent." The French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, called "the resurgence of revisionist ideas" on the Holocaust "unacceptable."
- ^ Fathi, Nazila (February 27, 2007). "Iranian Scholars Denounce Conference That Denied Holocaust". The New York Times. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
A group of Iranian academics, writers and artists has denounced the Holocaust conference held in Tehran late last year, calling it a move that endangered peace and hurt the reputation of Iranian academics.…The statement said the conference harmed the academic image of Iranian universities and merely provided a pretext for warmongers in the region. It added that the gathering perpetuated the immoral stance of Holocaust denial, a position that seriously endangers world peace. "The extensive material evidence, the confessions made in the Nuremberg trial and other trials that took place after the war and the testimonies of the survivors established the veracity of the accounts beyond any doubt," the statement said. "The accuracy of the accounts has been acknowledged by many academic, political and religious authorities, including the Catholic Church." The statement added that talking inconsiderately about the genocide can only be described as rubbing salt into a historical wound. "Those who perpetuate the discourse on Holocaust denial ignore the feelings of the people directly affected by this event," it said.
- NY Daily News. September 24, 2007.
- ^ "Ahmadinejad: Proud of Holocaust denial speech". Ynet. September 21, 2009.
Ahmadinejad was quoted by the Iranian News Agency (IRNA) as saying that the angering of "professional man-slayers is a source of pride for us and will not stand in our way", apparently in reference to Israel and the West.
- ^ "Iran president bans Western music". BBC News. 2005-12-19. Retrieved 2010-04-30.
- ^ "CNN.com - Reports: Iranian president asks end to CNN ban - Jan 16, 2006". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
- ^ "خبرگزاری آفتاب - مدعیان آزادی حتی برای خبرنگاران محدودیت ایجاد می کنند". Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved February 5, 2006.
- ^ "The 15 enemies of the Internet and other countries to watch". Reporters sans frontières. 17 November 2006. Archived from the original on 3 January 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-19.
- ^ "Iran Internet Usage and Telecommunications Reports". Internetworldstats.com. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
- ^ "Middle East Internet Statistics, Population, Facebook and Telecommunications Reports". Internetworldstats.com. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
- ^ Daniel Pipes. "The Mystical Menace of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad". Daniel Pipes.
- ^ The Christian Science Monitor (21 December 2005). "Waiting for the rapture in Iran". The Christian Science Monitor.
- ^ "Online NewsHour: Strong Words from Iran's President -- December 9, 2005". PBS. Archived from the original on April 30, 2006. Retrieved April 14, 2006.
- ^ Seymour M. Hersh (17 April 2006). "The Iran Plans". The New Yorker.
- ^ "For the Founder : Iran's Ahmadinejad : Crazy or Crazy Like a Fox?" (PDF). International-ecxonomy.com. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
- ^ "Columbia News ::: President Bollinger's Statement about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Scheduled Appearance at Columbia". Columbia.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
- ^ "Ahmadinejad Blasts Israel, Denies Existence of Iranian Gays During Columbia Speech". Fox News. September 24, 2007.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "President misquoted over gays in Iran: aide". Reuters. 2007-10-10.
- ^ "President Ahmadinejad Delivers Remarks at Columbia University". Washingtonpost.com. 2007-09-24. Retrieved 2016-05-12.