Australian 'Holocaust denier ' arrested at Heathrow claims he is victim of witch-hunt
By James Slack Last updated at 5:04 PM on 02nd October 2008
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Dr Frederick Toben
Holocaust denier Dr Frederick Toben, who was arrested at Heathrow airport
A leading holocaust denier who runs a website insisting the Nazis did not murder millions of Jews will face an extradition hearing tomorrow after being arrested as he flew into Britain.
Dr Fredrick Toben was seized at Heathrow at the request of the German authorities for publishing 'anti-Semitic and/or revisionist' material between 2000 and 2004.
Dr Toben - who claims to be facing a 'witch-trial' - has committed no crime in Britain, where Holocaust denial is not an offence.
But, under the terms of a European Arrest Warrant designed to fast-track extraditions, the Australian citizen can be held in the UK pending possible deportation to Germany - where he faces five years in prison.
Crown Prosecution Service lawyers will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court tomorrow to make a case on behalf of the German authorities that Dr Toben should be removed.
Appearing in court shortly after he was arrested at Heathrow on Wednesday, Dr Toben, 64, claimed the 'Germans are out to get me', and said he was the victim of 'legal persecution'.
Dr Toben said: 'It’s a witch-trial mentality in Germany concerning this matter, which is not the case in England yet.
'You should let me go because this is persecution and you should not demean the court by accepting this application from [the German court].
'The whole procedure is an abuse of process. I see this matter as a legal ambush.
You would be subjecting me to a legal process you cannot defend yourself against.'
The charges against Dr Toben relate to material published between 2000 and 2004.
He was arrested in transit from America to Dubai, the court was told.
Tina Whybraw, speaking on behalf of the German authorities, said that he was accused of committing the offences in Australia, Germany and other countries.
Opposing bail, she said: 'It is our assertion that this man would fail to surrender if you were to grant him bail.'
She said that, when police boarded the aircraft, Dr Toben had moved seats 'to avoid detection' and told officers 'you can’t arrest me on British soil'.
The German-born historian is the founder and director of the Adelaide Institute, a Holocaust denial group.
In a disclaimer on his website, he writes: 'If you wish to begin to doubt the Holocaust-Shoah narrative, you must be prepared for personal sacrifice, must be prepared for marriage and family break-up, loss of career, and go to prison.'
He spent seven months in a German prison in 1999 awaiting trial for charges under Holocaust law, which forbids incitement and 'insulting the memory of the dead'.
After being found guilty and sentenced to ten months’ jail, he was released a day later when a supporter posted bail, and fled the country.
Dr Toben also faces jail in Australia for breaching a Federal Court order in 2002 to remove material that it found 'vilified Jewish people'.
In August, he denied 28 charges of contempt of court brought by the Council of Australian Jewry, which claimed that the website still contained 'virulent anti-Semitic' material including that there were no homicidal gas chambers at Auschwitz and that the Holocaust was 'the world’s filthiest blood libel'.
The European Arrest Warrant, which came into force in 2004, abolished the principle of 'dual criminality' that existed under old extradition laws.
This allowed people to be extradited for something that is not a crime here, as long as it is a criminal offence in the country requesting removal.