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Iran shows Holocaust cartoons
14/08/2006 22:28 - (SA)
Tehran - An exhibition of more than 200 cartoons about the Holocaust opened on Monday as Iran's response to last year's Muslim outrage about a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper.
The display, showing 204 entries from Iran and abroad, was strongly influenced by the views of Iran's hard-line president, Mahoud Ahmadinejad.
He drew widespread condemnation last year for calling the Holocaust a "myth" and saying Israel should be destroyed.
One cartoon by Indonesian Tony Thomdean shows the Statue of Liberty holding a book on the Holocaust in its left hand and giving a Nazi-style salute with the other.
Masoud Shojai, director of the host, Caricature House, said a jury looked through 1 200 entries received after the contest was announced in February by the co-sponsor, the Iranian newspaper, Hamshahri.
It came after worldwide protests by Muslims against the Muhammad cartoon published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Entries from all over the world
Many Muslims considered the cartoon offensive and a violation of traditions prohibiting images of their prophet.
Hamshahri said it wanted to test the West's tolerance for drawings about the Nazi killing of six million Jews in World War 2.
The entries on display came from nations including United States, Indonesia and Turkey.
The exhibition runs until September 13 and the winner will receive $12 000.
The exhibition hall is next to the Palestinian Authority's embassy, which was Israel's diplomatic site in Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
- AP
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