Dr Toben Has No Regrets Fighting For Truth in History

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.

Comment:
The following comment was refused by The Adelaide Advertiser.

We could argue the historical aspects of what is commonly called the Holocaust until we are blue in the face. The problem is that no open and unbiased research that is unfettered by political correctness has ever has been done to expose the reality of those times. To base all evidence of a historical event on the testimony of heartfelt but often hysterical witness accounts, hearsay and what was enemy propaganda based on fiction, and then refuse point blank to allow an open investigation into the facts surrounding the matter, means that there will ALWAYS be people who doubt what is essentially, an unverified historical event.

In this case, Dr Toben’s conviction will only make matters worse for the Holocaust Believers, as those that are labeled Holocaust Deniers are persecuted and continue to grow in number and influence. Politically correct inquisitions not withstanding, unverfied historical events are faith based at best and anything based purely on faith will eventually fail. Therefore, the choice for the Holocaust Believers is to either allow an investigation which will result in the unadultured truth being revealed, or deny the possibility of any investigation which can only result in an eventual reversal of condemnation where the believer will be ridiculed for his/her faith.

Remember Galileo Galilei? Who laughs now?

Cailen Cambeul of Oaklands Park.

Update:
As of 11am on April 17, the original article at http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25344960-5006301,00.html has been altered. Spelling and grammar mistakes (which should never have occured) have been rectified and an addendum has been included at the end of the article,