Alleged Shoah denier fights extradition

Australian historian Gerald Toben has been accused of publishing allegedly anti-Semitic material online.

By AP, JONNY PAUL
The lawyer for an alleged Holocaust denier says his client never meant to cause offense. Australian historian Gerald Fredrick Toben was arrested on an EU arrest warrant at London's Heathrow Airport on October 1 while traveling from the United States to Dubai. The 64-year-old was accused of publishing allegedly anti-Semitic material online and a European Union arrest warrant was issued by a court in Mannheim, Germany. Toben's lawyer Ben Watson told a court in London on Friday that Toben was "adamant he never sought to cause offense by his work." Last week, a British parliamentarian said that Toben should not be extradited to Germany. Speaking on BBC radio, Liberal Democratic home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said that Holocaust denial is not a crime in the UK and that British courts should refuse to act on a European Union arrest warrant requesting Toben's extradition to Germany. The EU arrest warrant issued by the German authorities states that he carried out 'worldwide Internet publication' of material that was 'anti-Semitic and/or of a revisionist nature; deliberately contrary to historical truth, and publications that deny, approve or play down above all the mass murder of the Jews, planned and implemented by the Nazis.' According to the Crown Prosecution Service, agreements signed in 2003 between the UK and other European countries bind the UK to assist the German authorities. However, some human rights campaigners have backed Toben's case, saying that his views - however abhorrent - do not make him a criminal in the UK. Huhne warned that countries could 'pick and choose' cases to apply warrants issued by fellow EU member states. He said there were good legal grounds for refusing to participate in the 2003 agreement, citing Belgium, which he said refuses to send suspects to Poland on abortion-related murder charges. 'There is a clear precedent for doing this and I think we should in this case,' Huhne said. 'In this country we don't tend to prosecute people for issues that we regard as issues of freedom of speech.' Huhne also said the case seemed 'pretty dodgy,' seeing as the offense was not committed in Germany.