Iranian exiles slam Holocaust deniers

The statement pays homage to Jewish and non-Jewish victims of the Nazi regime while blasting the Iranian government for "distortion of historical facts," according to a copy shown to The Associated Press. It also notes that the activists are signing notwithstanding their "diverse views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

The effort was initiated in December by Ladan Boroumand, a human rights activist who was frustrated by the relative silence on the subject from the Iranian diaspora. The statement is to be printed next week in The New York Review of Books and may be posted online by the Review over the weekend.

"This power they claim to be able to tell you what the truth is and what it is not is where totalitarianism gets its strength from," said Boroumand, 49, a historian. "The whole purpose of this statement was to say the truth."

The controversial two-day conference in December brought together well-known Holocaust deniers and others who have said the Nazi genocide has been blown out of proportion.

The Tehran conference was backed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has made strident statements against Israel and called the Holocaust a "myth" while seeking to elevate Iran's profile in the region. Attempts to reach officials with the Iranian government were not immediately successful Thursday evening.

'Inappropriate to use Holocaust as a political issue'

Azar Nafisi, author of the best-selling book "Reading Lolita in Tehran," was among the early advocates and signers of the statement against the conference.

"I thought it was inappropriate to use the Holocaust as a political issue," Nafisi said. "I thought that Iranians, especially non-Jewish Iranians, had a responsibility to say, 'Not in my name."'

Monireh Baradaran, a prize-winning former political prisoner, and graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi are also among the 104 people who have signed so far. Most of those who attached their names have Muslim backgrounds, and several helped write and distribute the statement in various countries. It has been circulated in English, Persian, German and French.

The advocates avoided approaching people in Iran, however, to prevent them from having to decide "between doing the right thing and getting in trouble," said Roya Boroumand, 46, Ladan's sister and fellow human rights activist.

The Boroumands, who live in Washington, may place the statement online in the coming days to gather more signatures.

Some Iranians outside Iran have avoided publicly condemning the conference because they were concerned about being viewed as pro-Israeli – one reason the statement avoids taking sides on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ladan Boroumand said.

"This is a matter that's above political dissent," she said.