TWELVE June 2010 marked the first anniversary of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s second term in office. It was also the one-year anniversary of the Green Movement, which began a year ago in the streets of Tehran, when supporters of the reformist candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, erupted in protest against the government’s announcement that Ahmadinejad had won the election by a landslide.
Over the past five years, Ahmadinejad’s radical government has repeatedly exhibited its bigoted ideology. The most conspicuous part of that ideology is Ahmadinejad’s blatant denial of the Holocaust, which he alleges was orchestrated to facilitate the creation of Israel.
This year, in early June, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, denounced the proposed ban on the burqa in public places currently being debated in France and Belgium. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, Mottaki called it “an example of the intolerance that exists in Europe.”
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