Submitted by Mahasti Afshar, Jan 24, 2007 11:58

People who deny the Holocaust are either ignorant or racist or politically motivated. I'm all for being proactive in bringing about enlightenment about the Holocaust as, indeed, about other horrors because knowledge is virtue and our best hope for not repeating history. But I must say I'm puzzled by the idea of criminalizing Holocaust denial just as I would be if ignorance or midguided beliefs were criminalized. In my view, the law should protect free thought whatever the thinking may be, and draw the line between its expression and criminal action (or inciting to criminal action). For the same reason, I believe the law should protect those who created and published the Mohammad cartoons and punish those who, feeling offended, crossed the line and took physical action against them. I feel deeply offended by the Holocaust Conference in Tehran; but I don't think it's right to turn one regime's ignorance and political ambitions into a platform from which we then deny humanity's basic right to free thinking.

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