Arbeit macht frei: - Fredrick Töben

PRELUDE
When on 1 October 2008 I am arrested on the American Airlines plane at
Heathrow Airport and a German public prosecutor at Mannheim begins to
crow he will have me in court in early 2009, it seems a foregone conclusion
that Great Britain will extradite me. Mentally I prepare myself for such an
ordeal – but it was not to be.
Suspected Holocaust denier Dr Gerald Toben wins extradition fight
Suspected Holocaust denier Dr Gerald Toben has won his fight against
extradition to Germany where he is wanted for allegedly publishing anti-
Semitic material on his website.
Dr Toben, 64, a prominent Australian academic, is wanted to stand trial
for material he published between 2000 and 2004.
The German authorities claim they are ‘of an anti-Semitic and/or
revisionist nature’.
In the European Arrest Warrant issued in October 2004, he is accused of
approving of or playing down the murder of the Jews by the Nazis.
But District Judge Daphne Wickham yesterday ruled the warrant invalid
as it contains inadequate detail about the offences.
It neither states the name of the website nor where the propaganda is said
to have been published from - merely referring to the ‘world-wide
internet’.
After discharging Mr Toben, Judge Wickham granted him bail pending
an appeal by the German authorities.
But he was not expected to be released immediately, after she imposed a
series of strict conditions including a £100,000 security.
Grey wavy-haired Toben, heard the judge’s decision from the glassfronted
dock at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The public gallery was packed with supporters of Toben.
Judge Wickham rejected an argument from Melanie Cumberland, for the
German authorities, that the required information could be acquired.
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