Iran to send Interpol list of over 100 Israeli "war criminals"

Mar 6, 2009, 12:40 GMT

Tehran - Iran will send Interpol a list of over 100 Israeli 'war-criminals,' Fars news agency reported Friday.

Tehran general prosecutor Saaid Mortzavi said that 'a list with more than 100 Zionist (Israeli) criminals involved in the massacre of the Palestinian people has been prepared and would gradually be sent to Interpol.'

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said during Friday prayers that the only appropriate sentence for the Israeli war criminals should be execution.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday demanded an international war crimes tribunal be held against Israeli leaders who ordered military operations in the Gaza Strip in December and January.

The demand by Khamenei, who in line with the Iranian constitution has the final say on all state affairs, was sent by the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry as an official letter to the United Nations.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad echoed Khamenei's demands for a war crimes tribunal for Israel, which Tehran does not recognize as a sovereign state, supporting instead Gaza's ruling Islamist militant group Hamas.

Ahmadinejad urged a united front against Israel in order to follow up 'the condemnation of the criminals in a war crimes tribunal.'

The Iranian prosecutor general's office earlier this week said it had asked Interpol to issue arrest warrants for 34 top Israeli political officials and 114 military commanders, including outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, on charges of war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Interpol denied having received any such request from Iran or any of its 187 member countries.