'Indict Iran leader for crimes against humanity'

Kofi Annan's advisor is called on to indict the Iranian president for his call to destroy Israel.

By HERB KEINON
Even as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is planning a visit to Iran, a Hebrew University public health expert Thursday called on Annan's adviser for genocide prevention to indict Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because of his call to destroy Israel. Elihu Richter, who since 2001 has carried out research on the prediction and prevention of genocide, wrote Juan Mendez saying that the statement was "a direct incitement to genocide, i.e. a crime against humanity, because it calls for the destruction of an entire nation defined by who they are, and includes explicit endorsement of acts of terror and violence to achieve this objective." Mendez, who is Annan's special adviser for prevention of genocide and works closely with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is mandated with examining existing and potential threats of genocide and their links to international security, and makes recommendations on actions to prevent genocide. Richter wrote that incitement and hate language by those in power "is a validated predictor of intent to commit genocide. The role of incitement and hate language has been well documented for the Holocaust, Cambodia, Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and many other genocides. No less important as a predictor for genocide is acquiescence, indifference, and inaction by the outside world." Richter wrote that last Friday's UN Security Council condemnation of Iran "should be followed by definable actions to deter potential perpetrators before they begin to carry out their inhuman agendas."