Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended his nation’s human rights record on Monday as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the U.N. and Columbia University to protest appearances by the hard-line leader.\n“People in Iran are very joyous, happy people,” he told a National Press Club audience that questioned him about the arrests of students, journalists and women. “They’re very free in expressing what they think.”\nHe said women in Iran were “the freest women in the world ... They’re active in every level \nof society.”\nHuman rights activists inside and outside Iran have decried a recent wave of arrests of people calling for political and legal reforms of the Iranian theocratic system. Ahmadinejad said those complaints were baseless, and denied knowing about any detention or harsh punishments of reformists.\n“The people who give this information should see what is the truth and disseminate what is correct,” he said. “I invite everyone in this session to come and visit Iran for themselves.”\nThousands of people jammed two blocks across from the United Nations to protest Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York. Organizers claimed a turnout of tens of thousands. Police did not immediately have a crowd estimate.\nThe speakers, most of them politicians and officials from Jewish organizations, proclaimed their support for Israel and criticized the Iranian leader for his remarks questioning the Holocaust.\n“We’re here today to send a message that there is never a reason to give a hatemonger an open stage,” New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.\nProtesters also assembled at Columbia, where President Lee Bollinger promised to grill Ahmadinejad on subjects such as human rights, the Holocaust and Iran’s disputed nuclear program. The Iranian leader previously has called the Holocaust “a myth’’ and called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.’’\nHe told the National Press Club that his questioning of the Holocaust was based on his concern that it was used to justify Israeli oppression of Palestinians.\n“Granted that the Holocaust is a reality ... Why is it that the Palestinian people should be displaced?” he said. ‘’Why are they paying the damage by giving up their land?’’\nAt Columbia, dozens of people stood near the lecture hall where Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak, linking arms and singing traditional Jewish folk songs about peace and brotherhood, while nearby a two-person band played “You Are My Sunshine.”\nSigns in the crowd displayed a range of messages, including one that read “We refuse to choose between Islamic fundamentalism and American imperialism.”\nBollinger said Monday that allowing Ahmadinejad to appear was a question of free speech and academic freedom.\n“It’s extremely important to know who the leaders are of countries that are your adversaries. To watch them to see how they think, to see how they reason or do not reason. To see whether they’re fanatical, or to see whether they are sly,” he told ABC’s “Good \nMorning America.”
Associated Press writers Karen Matthews and Aaron Clark contributed to this report.
