Thought criminal Fredrick Toben [who appears in the DVD “Judea Declares War on Germany”] has apologized to a judge for publishing banned material, while fiercely defending his beliefs outside the court.
Backing down from plans to contest allegations that his Adelaide Institute website had published offensive material, Dr Toben apologised to the Federal Court for breaching a previous court order.
In 2002, judge Catherine Branson ruled Dr Toben had breached the Racial Discrimination Act, and banned him from publishing material implying the Holocaust did not happen and doubting the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
She also restrained him from publishing articles implying Jews who were offended or challenged by Holocaust denial were of limited intelligence, and that some Jewish people had – for financial gain – exaggerated the number of Jews killed in World War II and the circumstances.
Jeremy Jones, former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, had asked the Federal Court to jail Dr Toben for breaching Justice Branson’s orders after the material reappeared on the website
The case was due to be heard in Adelaide yesterday, but lawyers for each side told judge Michael Moore they had agreed to end the matter, with Dr Toben apologising and undertaking to remove the offensive material and not republish it.
Paul Charman, appearing for Dr Toben pro bono, said his client “did not want to cause any undue distress” and accepted there was material that “clearly breached” the court order. Dr Toben told the court he apologised “unreservedly” and would remove all the material by the end of next week.
Outside the court, Dr Toben denied the apology was a backdown and said he would continue to run his controversial website. “I have a very firm belief on Holocaust matters and I should be able to express it,” he said.
“Anyone who disagrees should then, in fact, engage me in a debate … the other side who holds on to the Holocaust does not debate. There are so many contentious issues on this so-called Holocaust that it still needs to be looked at and investigated.”
Dr Toben said it was a “very sad” day for Germans who found it “extremely hurtful when an allegation is made against them – that they did all these things called the Holocaust to the Jews – without having the freedom to research the topic.”
Mr Jones said he hoped Dr Toben would comply and that no more legal proceedings would be necessary. “All we sought was for a person who was causing upset and offence to other people within the Australian community in principle to stop doing it,” he said.
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Why is it that it is a crime to debate the history of the so-called holocaust (at least as it relates to Jews), when we are supposed to have free speech?
Why is this one area of history so restricted that it is illegal to discuss it openly?