Arbeit macht frei: - Fredrick Töben

Dr Toben, an Australian national, was convicted in Germany in 1999 for
breaking a German law that prohibits denying or ‘playing down’ the mass
murder of the Jews under Hitler.
‘No laws broken’
Officers from Scotland Yard’s Extradition Unit arrested him on
Wednesday while he waited on a plane at Heathrow airport.
Appearing before City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court the same day,
Dr Toben said he was the victim of ‘legal persecution’.
He added: ‘It’s a witch trial mentality in Germany concerning this matter,
which is not the case in England yet.’
Human rights campaigner James Panton, of the Manifesto Group, said
that Dr Toben should not be extradited, because he had not broken any
British laws.
‘Extraditing this man - however unpleasant a character he may be - would
set a crazy and dangerous precedent,’ he said.
‘Toben has been arrested in the UK for being a Holocaust denier - but
that is not a crime here.
‘We are now entering a dangerous situation where you and I could
potentially be arrested for crimes that other countries - but not the UK -
deem to be offences.’
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), whose lawyers are acting for the
German authorities, argue that agreements signed in 2003 between the
UK and other European countries mean that Britain is duty-bound to
assist the German authorities.
Internet views
A CPS spokesman said an extradition hearing would determine whether
the requirements were met for surrender to the requesting territory under
Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003.
‘The matters the judge are required to consider include whether the
conduct constitutes an extradition offence.’
Campaigners are also concerned that the UK is assisting the extradition of
someone whose views appeared on the internet - rather than being
published in Germany itself.
Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, said that while his
party in no way condoned Dr Toben’s views, ‘not only has he not broken
any UK laws, but in seeking to arrest him, Germany is claiming censorship
rights to the entire internet network.’
This view is shared by Australian free-speech campaigners who have
accused Germany of trying to ‘legislate for the entire world’ by treating
downloadable internet material as a German publication.
Holocaust ‘a lie’
Dr Toben, a German-born former schoolteacher, who now lives in
Australia, has in the past described the Holocaust as ‘a lie’.
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