LONDON (EJP)--- British Jewish leaders have spoken out against a ruling which sees British Holocaust denier David Irving released early from prison in Austria.
Veteran Jewish activist Lord Greville Janner, a former Labour MP, led the chorus of disapproval after a Vienna court has ruled that historian Irving, convicted on charges of denying the Holocaust, should serve the rest of his three-year sentence on probation.
At the end of Irving’s appeal against his earlier conviction on Wednesday, Vienna’s highest court ruled to convert two-thirds of Irving’s three-year sentence into probation, according to the Austria Press Agency APA.
Since Irving has already spent more than 13 months behind bars, the ruling means he will be released from prison immediately.
Lord Janner, the vice president of the World Jewish Congress and president of the Commonwealth Jewish Council, said after the ruling: "I am sorry that he did not serve out his full term, and I hope he will remain in Austria and not return to the United Kingdom, where he will not be welcome."
|
Henry Grunwald, President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, while not being drawn on whether or not it was correct for the Austrian court to reduce Irving's sentence, added that states who banned Holocaust denial, like Austria, did so "correctly".
"Many European states criminalise Holocaust denial, viewing it correctly as a threat to history and democracy by extremists who wish to resurrect Nazism," he said.
"That Holocaust denial retains its potency for extremists was demonstrated by the recent Iranian conference which brought together Nazi sympathisers, several of whom are convicted criminals and militant Islamists, in a futile attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the State of Israel.
"Irving’s reputation as a Nazi sympathiser, prepared to pervert the truth to promote his extremism, was further strengthened by his belated attempt to curry favour with the Austrian court by retracting his past views prior to being sentenced. "Confronting such extremists with the truth therefore remains the most powerful weapon against their lies."
|
Labour peer Lord George Foulkes said he was “shocked” by the decision. A member of the Policy Council of Labour Friends of Israel, he said: "It is outrageous that he should be allowed to get away with serving such a relatively short part of his sentence.
"He will, I fear, be able to come out and cause great distress to people by continuing to propagate his false and perverted version of history.
"To call himself a historian is a perversion of that word, because his version of history is fiction rather than fact. I am shocked."
Falsifier of history
Other Jewish activists in Britain claimed that, regardless of whether or not Irving was released, his reputation as a historian had been "shot".
Chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust Karen Pollock said: "Holocaust denial is anti-Semitism dressed up as intellectual debate and Irving’s reputation as a credible historian is shot.
"In 2000 a British High Court judge branded David Irving as a falsifier of history and a racist who, for his own ideological reasons, persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence.
|
Holocaust denier David Irving |
"In Austria, David Irving has been convicted of the crime, regardless of the length of the sentence he serves.
"Nevertheless, with the recent conference in Iran, attended by deniers and neo-Nazi sympathisers, we are reminded of the need to remain vigilant to ensure that Holocaust denial, in whatever guise it appears, is challenged.
"The most effective way of challenging deniers is through educating and informing generations - the experience of Holocaust survivors and, of course, our own British troops who fought Nazism and liberated the Nazi death camps, speaks for itself."
In custody since November 2005
Irving has been in custody in Austria since his November 2005 arrest on charges stemming from two speeches he gave in Austria in 1989 for which he was accused of denying the Nazis’ extermination of six million Jews.
In February, a Vienna court sentenced Irving to three years behind bars under a 1992 law, which applies to "whoever denies, grossly plays down, approves or tries to excuse the National Socialist genocide or other National Socialist crimes against humanity in a print publication, in broadcast or other media".
The law calls for a prison term of up to 10 years. In September, Austria’s highest court upheld Irving’s conviction.
Irving has contended that most of those who died at concentration camps like Auschwitz succumbed to diseases such as typhus rather than execution.
Irving was present at Wednesday’s hearing and was brought into the packed courtroom in handcuffs.
Free speech
However, after his release, John Hemmings, Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley, commented that - while he disagreed with Holocaust denial - banning it would not remove the threat of fascism.
"Although I think he was wrong to say what he did, I would not have locked him up," he said.
|
John Hemmings, Liberal Democrat MP |
"Free speech is not an absolute. But constraints on free speech should be linked to what the effect of what the offensive words are rather than exactly what is expressed.
"I was always uncomfortable with Holocaust denial being a criminal offence. And although I think it very offensive for people to deny what happened during the World War II, I would not have had it a criminal offence."
Lord Foulkes called on the British Government to express its concern to the Austrian authorities over the legal ruling, but Irving said: "I’m returning to England. I’m fit and well but feeling sorry for my family.
"I’m calling for the academic boycott until the German and Austrian governments stop putting historians in prison.
"I was put in prison for three years for expressing an opinion 17 years ago," he added.
His partner, Bente Hogh, 43, who lives in Chelsea, London, said: "He’s rung to say he’s coming back. It was half expected, because he has served over a year. I’m pleased - I don’t think it was fair, to be honest."
The couple have lived together for 15 years.
