German prosecutors to appeal after Toben’s release (October 30, 2008)

PETER KOHN

ADELAIDE man Fredrick Toben has won at least a temporary reprieve from being sent to Germany to stand trial for Holocaust denial.

In London’s Westminster Magistrates Court, Judge Daphne Wickham ruled yesterday that a European Union arrest warrant under which Toben was picked up at Heathrow Airport on October 1 was invalid as it was not detailed enough.

The AJN understands that the German warrant, which is based on Toben’s alleged violations of Germany’s criminal code between 2000 and 2004, may have deliberately avoided greater detail in order to facilitate his extradition.

Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany, but not in Britain where Toben was arrested or in Australia where the offensive content was posted on his Adelaide Institute website. However, it is prohibited by Australian anti-discrimination laws.

Lawyers for prosecutors from Germany’s Mannheim court are now preparing to appeal the ruling in Britain’s High Court.

Meanwhile, Judge Wickham has granted Toben bail with strict conditions, including a surety of 100,000 pounds, banning him from using the internet and requiring him to report to police daily.

If Toben manages to avoid being sent to Germany and convicted there of Holocaust denial on the internet, he still faces judgement and sentencing in a contempt case now before the Federal Court of Australia.

Jeremy Jones, who was president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry in 2002 when the Federal Court ordered Toben to remove and not replace offensive material denying the Holocaust on his Adelaide Institute website, launched the contempt action in 2006 after repeated violations.