Iran leader hopes Sharon is dead
From correspondents in Tehran
January 06, 2006
IRAN'S hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said overnight that
he hoped Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was dead and wished
the same for the rest of the Jewish state's leaders, the ISNA
student news agency reported.
"Today you will all have heard, and I hope that this is final, that
the criminal of Sabra and Chatila has rejoined his ancestors," Mr
Ahmadinejad said referring to Sharon's alleged role in the massacre
of Palestinians by Lebanese militiamen in Beirut refugee camps in
1982.
"God willing, the others will join him soon," he added.
Sharon, 77, was described as being in a critical but stable
condition in a Jerusalem hospital after suffering a massive brain
haemorrhage overnight.
Mr Ahmadinejad, an ultra-conservative who won a shock election
victory in June, has caused international outrage with a series of
anti-Israeli remarks.
Earlier even as Sharon was battling for his life, the president
issued a new diatribe questioning both Israel's right to exist and
the truth of the Holocaust.
"Why would you impose such a bold and corrupt regime on the nations
of the region unless it (the Holocaust) is a big historical lie,"
Mr Ahmadinejad said, addressing Western nations.
Mr Ahmadinejad's comments have already resulted in two rebukes from
the UN Security Council, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan also
put off a planned visit to Iran in October.
The president has broken with the more measured language of his
moderate predecessor Mohammad Khatami to brand the Holocaust a
"myth" and Israel a "tumour" that should be "wiped off the
map".
