Will Iran's President Get Himself Arrested?

He just might if he goes to the World Cup in Germany this year.

FORGET football hooligans. The thorniest dilemma facing Germany as it prepares to host the World Cup is what to do about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s hardline President, if he insists on coming to watch his team play next month.
Germany is obliged to admit the head of state of a participating nation, and the tournament’s official motto is “A Time To Make Friends”. But Mr Ahmadinejad has demanded Israel’s destruction and has repeatedly denied the Holocaust — a crime in Germany.

As it stands at the moment, the central government is taking the position that Ahmannutjob would have diplomatic immunity in the same way that Rumsfeld had last year when there were threats to arrest him for war crimes during a visit to Germany. The Bavarian state government is taking a harder line, saying the Iranian President is "not welcome". It's understandable - they are already nervous about German neo-Nazis using Iran's first match (in Nuremberg, irony of ironies) as a rallying point.

German legal experts have also pointed out that Ahmannutjob's Israel hating has been done outside Germany and therefore probably doesn't breach German law.

So unfortunately, it is unlikely any arrest warrant will be served. The German central government is following the law - over both diplomatic immunity and non-contravention of the law. Still, there's a month to go and things could change.

However, just to prove that Iran's President isn't the only culprit when it comes to thoughtless hate-speech, the Jerusalem Post said in an editorial:

Germany’s behaviour toward Iran is a clear sign that for all its Holocaust memorialising, for all its anti-Nazi legislation, and for all its protestations of friendship with Israel and the Jewish people, Germany has not learnt the lessons of the Holocaust.

Yeah, that'll help - NOT!