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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces public skewering at Columbia University

25 September 2007 09:24 (UTC +04:00)

â€œMr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,â€ Bollinger told Ahmadinejad from a lectern across the stage. He said that Ahmadinejadâ€™s past denials of the Holocaust might fool â€œthe illiterate and ignorantâ€ but that â€œwhen you come to a place like this, it makes you quite simply ridiculous.â€
A leader known to live largely protected from criticism at home, Ahmadinejad appeared shocked and insulted. He chastised Bollinger for judging his speech before it had even begun and suggested that such a move was unforgivable in a university setting.
When asked about womenâ€™s rights, Ahmadinejad said that women in his country are â€œmore respected than men.â€ But he really brought down the house when responding to a question about repression against gays in Iran.
â€œIn Iran, we donâ€™t have homosexuals like in your country,â€ he said. Above the guffaws from the crowd, he continued: â€œIn Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I donâ€™t know whoâ€™s told you that we have it.â€ /APA/