Jun 9, 2006, 13:07 GMT
Berlin - German officials said Friday they had issued a visa to Iranian Vice President Mohammed Aliabadi to attend the football World Cup, but they made clear he was being given an official cold shoulder during his visit.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said diplomats had found no reason to deny Aliabadi a visa. This was despite the fact that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has cast doubt on the Holocaust and called for the destruction of Israel.
Holocaust denial is illegal under German law.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's deputy spokesman, Thomas Steg, insisted that Berlin wanted to strictly separate the World Cup sporting event from normal politics.
'We strongly condemn the remarks of the Iranian president ... denying the Holocaust,' said Steg.
Steg underlined that Berlin viewed Alibadi not as a deputy head of state but rather in his capacity as Iran's sports commissioner.
'This is not a state visit,' said Steg.
Nobody from the German government would meet with Aliabadi and all responsibility for logistics of his visit would be with the German Football Federation and the Iranian embassy, said Steg.
Despite denials from officials in Tehran, it is still unclear if President Ahmadinejad plans to attend the World Cup.
Jewish groups have called for the Iranian President to be banned from entering Germany but the government says the Iranian leader would be allowed to come for the World Cup and is protected by his diplomatic status.
'Everybody (from Iran) except the state president needs a visa (to enter Germany),' said Jaeger.
Charlotte Knobloch, the newly elected head of Germany's Central Council of Jews, earlier this week slammed the Iranian leader as 'a second Hitler.'
Knobloch, who is a Holocaust survivor, told Bild newspaper that Holocaust denial was punishable under German law and that the German government could not protect him from prosecution.
'On the contrary, officials should launch an investigation against him and punish him,' she said.
German police on Thursday banned several right-wing extremist demonstrations which had been called in support of the Iranian team taking part in the World Cup.
The marches were widely seen as a veiled bid by neo-Nazis to show support for the Iranian president's Holocaust denial.
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