New York, NY, September 3, 1998…The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has called on the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights to reevaluate the candidacy of Sudanese attorney Farouk M. Abu Eissa for the 1998 United Nations Human Rights award.

In a letter to Mary Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Howard P. Berkowitz, ADL National Chairman, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said, "In light of Mr. Abu Eissa’s vehement support of Roger Garaudy and his denial of the Holocaust, we respectfully urge the High Commission for Human Rights to reconsider Mr. Abu Eissa’s appropriateness for this honor.

In his capacity as secretary of the Arab Lawyers Union, Mr. Abu Eissa mobilized support in Egypt, where he resides, and elsewhere in the Arab world for Roger Garaudy, an infamous Holocaust denier."

In February 1998 Mr. Garaudy was put on trial in France on charges of contesting the truth of proven crimes against humanity. His book, The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics, denies the Nazi extermination of Jews and the existence of gas chambers during the Holocaust. Mr. Garaudy claims that the number of Jews killed by the Nazis has been exaggerated to justify support for Zionism.

Mr. Abu Eissa organized a five-man legal delegation to go to Paris for Mr. Garaudy’s trial. He also arranged for two attorneys to testify on Mr. Garaudy’s behalf.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.