Nobel Laureate Wiesel calls for Ahmadinejad to be arrested for crimes against humanity

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be arrested for crimes against humanity, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel said during an appearance in St. Petersburg on March 11.

“This man wants nuclear weapons. He wants these nuclear weapons to destroy the Jewish state and kill again 6 million Jews,” said Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

“I plead for the arrest of Ahmadinejad. I think this man should be brought before the international tribunal in the Hague (the World Court) and indicted for crimes against humanity.”

Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of Israel and has denied the Holocaust took place. He recently called the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, “...a big fabrication.”

Wiesel said he was not calling for Ahmadinejad to be killed. “I am against death. I am against violence,” he said.

He was speaking at an Eckerd College forum on genocide and the plight of Africa. He appeared with John Prendergast, a human rights activist and an expert on Africa.

Prendergast said there were some signs of hope in Africa despite mass killings in places like Darfur and the Congo. He noted that Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda and Rwanda were now peaceful after years of bloody conflict. “Much of Africa is at peace,” he said.

Wiesel, who has been a visiting professor at Eckerd since 1993, said even though mankind has still not learned the lessons of the Holocaust, he has not given up hope for a better world.

“What ever happens in the world, happens to us. It is our necessary obligation to do something about it,” he said.

“Never give up hope. There must be hope.”