Torben [sic] does not regret defying order on insulting Jews
Sean Fewster, Court Reporter: The Advertiser | April 16, 2009
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25344960-5006301,00.html
REVISIONIST historian Fredrick Toben does not regret defying a court order to stop insulting Jewish people, saying “freedom of speech demands sacrifice”. [sic]
The Federal Court, sitting in Adelaide, today found Toben guilty of 24 counts of contempt of court.
Justice Bruce Lander ruled Toben acted “wilfully and contumaciously” by uploading, to his website, articles implying Jews offended by Holocaust denial were of “limited intelligence”.
Other articles claimed the Auschwitz concentration camp had no gas chambers, and that some Jewish people “exaggerated” the Holocaust “for improper motives”.
Toben now faces a fine, jail time or both – under Australian law, the severity of those penalities are at the court’s discretion.
Asked, outside court, if he felt he had done anything wrong, Toben replied: “according to the judgment, I have.”
“Why should I regret anything?” he said.
“If you believe in something and you want to have the freedom to express your opinion, then you should be prepared to make sacrifices.
“I don’t know if I’m allowed to believe anything anymore… if you take away my freedom of expression, you take away my humanity.”
The former teacher has long been a controversial figure.
In 2008, he spent time in British custody while German prosecutors sought to have him extradicted to face charges.
In 2006, he was a speaker at an internationally-condemned revisionist history conference organised by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Last year, Toben pleaded not guilty to 28 charges of contempt of court.
It was alleged he breached an undertaking he gave to the court, in September 2002, that he would not publish material that “offended, insulted or humiliated Jewish people” on his website.
Today, Justice Lander found 24 of those charges proved beyond reasonable doubt.
“Dr Toben’s behaviour… is further evidence of his wilful and contumacious disobedience (of the court),” he said.
The court will hear submissions on penalty in two weeks.
