EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION!
Dr Töben has been arrested whilst in private
discussion with Judge Klein!
EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION
Dr Fredrick Töben, Director of Adelaide Institute
Website
and editor of Adelaide Institute Newsletter, was
arrested in Mannheim, Germany, on April 9th, 1999, by two
German officials, Hans Heiko Klein, Public Prosecutor, and
State Security Police (Staatchutz) Superintendent Mohr, for
"thought crimes".
He is now in Mannheim Prison awaiting sentence, as of April
9th, 1999
ENTRAPMENT
We feel that this arrest was a case of entrapment, in
that Dr Töben had a private talk with Herr Klein, in
which he raised some issues concerning the Holocaust, on
April 8th, 1999. He was then invited to return for further
discussion next day, at which time he met not only Klein,
but also Herr Mohr, who did not initially identify himself
as belonging to the political police.
During the course of conversation, Klein was asked if he
believed in the Holocaust, which he immediately agreed to.
Fredrick Töben was asked if he also agreed with the
Holocaust story, to which he responded: "that's what you
say". This degree of implied scepticism was enough for
Superintendent Mohr to call for Fredrick's immediate arrest
on a charge of "defaming the memory of the dead". Apparently
only full and hearty agreement is permissible in
Germany.
PRIVATE CONVERSATION
Adelaide Institute wishes to emphasise that Fredrick
Töben's remarks were in the course of a private
conversation with Messrs Klein and Mohr. At no time did he
make any public statements on the Holocaust, hold rallies,
make speeches or in any other way make any public statements
of disbelief in the Holocaust inside Germany outside his
encounter with these two men. This ""thought crime" was held
to be sufficient to arrest him.
PRESERVE INTERNET FREE
SPEECH
The historical content of Adelaide Institute Website will
no doubt be produced at a trial, and it is our understanding
that Herr Klein has already downloaded extensive material
from Adelaide Institute Website, but this is an illegitimate
action on the part of the German State and legal system, in
that the Internet is in the international public domain, and
is outside German jurisdiction. Any such material, in a fair
trial, should be declared null and void and irrelevant.
INTERNATIONAL COVERAGE
The Internet has international coverage, crossing
international "borders". By what right does Germany impose
its censorship on it? Germans are not obliged to view
revisionist material if they disagree with it or are
offended by it, whereas they ARE obliged to accept the
orthodox view of the Holocaust imposed on them by German
authorities.
AUSTRALIAN CITIZEN
Dr Töben is an Australian citizen, operating a
Website that is legal in Australia and he has actually
supplied copies of the content of the Website to federal
police in Australia who confirm that it does not break
Australian law. The German State is once again outside its
jurisdiction in seeking to give itself the status of
international law and acting as "censors" of material that
is legal within the country of origin. Consequently, this is
a violation of the rights of an Australian citizen, and the
Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Downer, the Australian
Government and Opposition are being approached to assert Dr
Töben's rights as an Australian citizen which are being
violated by the German State for thought police crimes.
POLITICAL PRISONER
Dr Töben is a political prisoner, who has been
unjustly and illegitimately arrested inside Germany on the
basis of a private conversation and on the content of a
Website which operates in another country and does not
contravene Australian law. The actions of the German State
are thus illegitimate.
LAWYER HIRED
A Lawyer has been hired to defend Dr Töben and
updates will be issued as more information comes to hand
about Dr Töben.
WORLDWIDE SUPPORT
Messages of support have been received all over the world
for Dr Töben's struggle to maintain historical truth
and free discussion. EFA (Electronic Frontiers Association)
has told us that they will support Dr Töben on the
issue of free speech on the Internet.
VIEWER SUPPORT
Any persons viewing this are invited to write, e mail or
fax German Embassies and Consulates and Australian Embassies
and Consulates with a call for Dr Töben's immediate
release from Mannheim Prison, and Adelaide Institute wishes
to thank all people that have indicated their support for
the struggle for historical truth.
MARTYR FOR TRUTH
Dr Töben has joined the list of martyrs for
historical truth and his suffering will not be in vain. The
struggle for historical truth will continue, just as he
would wish.
As we begin to enter the 21st Century the struggle for truth
will survive, and will last as long as the spirit of man
survives. God is with us in this struggle. "Where the Spirit
of the Lord is, there is Liberty." Website visitors, please
join us in this fight.
Geoff Muirden, Assistant Director, Adelaide Institute
Fresh German
Outrage
:
Frederick Toben
Arrested in Mannheim
ADELAIDE THURSDAY APR 8 -- It
was announced from Adelaide today that Dr Fredrick Toben,
Director of Adelaide Institute, the Australian revisionist
Website, was arrested and incarcerated in Mannheim Prison
today Thursday, 8th April, 1999 on a charge of "defaming the
memory of the dead", the law introduced by Germany for the
suppression of Free Speech. He had just met with Mannheim
chief prosecutor Hans-Heiko Klein and criminal investigation
bureau chief Mohr.
It is understood that before leaving Australia he told
friends, "The cause needs another martyr," so he may have
been aware that he was delivering himself into the Lion's
Den.
He is to be sentenced today Friday, 9th April, 1999.
Geoffrey Muirden, assistant director of the Institute,
requests all Website visitors to protest to their local
German consulates and embassies by phone, e-mail and letter,
and demand the release of this Australian researcher.
In a statement issued on April 9 Mr Muirden said:
"Adelaide Institute regards this this as a case of
entrapment. He was thrown into jail after a private
conversation with Public Prosecutor Klein. After being
invited to return for a further conversation, he was
arrested by State Security Police Superintendant Mohr. This
is a violation of free speech on the Internet and an assault
on his rights as an Australian citizen."
Toben's assistant director Geoffrey
Muirden emphasizes that:
* the arrest ensued as a result of entrapment by Klein and
Mohr who invited Fred Toben to give his views in a private
conversation. (Toben did not hold rallies, give speeches or
utter any public comments on the Holocaust openly in
Germany);
* though the revisionist content of Adelaide Institute is
likely to be mentioned in the trial, the Internet is part of
the public domain, not subject to German law;
* Fred is an Australian citizen visiting Germany; and
* while his Website is legal in Australia, an attempt is
being made to prosecute him for it in Germany, outside
Australian jurisdiction.
Our opinion:
AFTER the US citizens Hans Schmidt and Fred Leuchter ,
and Fred Toben , we wonder who next will fall victim to
Germany's extraordinary laws for the suppression of Free
Speech. We have put together a list of German diplomatic
missions in the USA for our American friends to use.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's phone number is +0049 228 562
001.
David Irving broadcasts
to Australia about the arrest:
TRANSCRIPT OF TELEPHONE
CONVERSATION FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 1999
|
ABC RADIO:
This is a message for
David Irving. It is Rebecca Barrett of ABC Radio in Sydney,
Australia. It is Friday night about 8 o'clock our time. I'll
be here for about four hours or so...
DAVID IRVING: This is David
Irving. Let me just turn off the answering machine. --
Right. You're phoning about Fredrick Toben, I suppose. I am
indeed.
ABC:
It's been interesting
because our Australian officials here just can't tell us
anything and they're saying that they're in contract with
German authorities but they've just drawn a blank, I was
wondering if ... a wire copy here about the fact that you've
given a few details ...
IRVING: I've phoned the press
agency here. I am outraged by it. I think that the German
authorities have gone berserk. Uh, I don't know exactly what
Toben was doing in Germany and I don't know exactly where he
was when he was arrested: I don't know whether he was
arrested because, uh in general because of the contents of
his Website which can be accessed by Germans -- I suspect
that that is the reason -- because the German Government has
been trying for over a year now I think to find some ways of
censoring the Internet, which will not make them popular
with the global community...
ABC:
Right. Uh, had he been
on a speaking tour at all in Germany do you know?
IRVING: That I don't know. If
he, if he was, uh, I would have urgently cautioned him not
to. That is a minefield in Germany and they will arrest you
at the drop of a hat. And it is the same in Austria and this
is the reason why I won't go to Germany, for the next few
years, until they revive their sense of freedom of speech;
but Germany hasn't got a very good record on freedom of
speech this century. Perhaps in the next millennium they'll
do better.
ABC:
Right... Mr Irving, are
you happy for me to do an interview with you, just about --
I mean, you've said you don't know many of the details
surrounding it, but are obviously outraged at what's
happening, even if it has about what's going out on the
Website... what it means for freedom of speech.
IRVING: Go ahead whenever you
want.
ABC
Look I'll just put us
straight through to a tape now. I won't be a second. Okay,
I'll just try a ...
IRVING: Right
ABC:
David Irving, what do
you know of Fredrick Toben's arrest in Germany?
IRVING: I was
contacted by my friends in Australia yesterday with this
astonishing news that Dr Fredrick Toben had been arrested in
Mannheim by the public prosecutor Hans-Heiko Klein. And I
think that this man Klein has gone berserk, he's a lunatic;
he's a German, and the Germans this century have not had a
very good record of freedom of speech. They may do a bit
better in the coming Millennium, but so far they give me
sufficient reason not to (chuckles) want to go to Germany
for the next few years and I'm just very surprised that
Fredrick Toben didn't realise the dangers that he was
exposing himself to.
ABC:
Do you know any of the
circumstances surrounding his arrest?
IRVING: Uh, Fredrick Toben is
the promoter or "Webmaster" of a website in Adelaide called
the Adelaide Institute, and on that he publishes historical
materials of the kind to which the German Government takes
official umbrage. They don't like it, and for two or three
years the German Government have been frantically trying to
censor the Internet; and Toben is also, I think, the subject
of an Australian Human Rights commission by Jeremy Jones who
is an Australian Jewish community leader, and all these
things are almost certainly interlinked in some way -- they
are trying to have at him now that he's in Germany where
he's exposed to this danger, and I am deeply concerned for
him because I think he will now vanish into a German prison
for many weeks, if not months, before he even comes to
trial.
ABC:
Do you know specifically
what he was doing in Germany?
IRVING: No. I don't know
whether he was visiting, or lecturing, -- if he was
lecturing I think he would have been very foolish, because
the Germans don't allow free speech any more.
ABC
But you believe that the
Germans are aware of the Website that he has put together
here in Australia?
IRVING: Yes indeed.
That is quite certain. The German specifically refer to that
Website and to a number of other historical Websites as
being the reason why censorship of the Internet is urgently
needed.
ABC:
What does that say to
you about freedom of speech?
IRVING: Well, I think that
freedom of speech is gradually easing in Australia, and I
know that the Australian people is very alert to this
danger. The Internet is a medium which has so far not come
under control except in a few countries like China, and I
personally hope that the Internet will be kept a free medium
for as long as possible. I've got my own Website, and I know
that I have a colossal following on that Website.
ABC:
Would you have warned
Fredrick Toben against going to Germany, knowing the
controversy surrounding his Website?
IRVING: I would have advised
him to have kept a very low profile in Germany, I've heard
rumours that he was actually arrested in the Chief
Prosecutor's office, and I wonder what on earth he was doing
in the lion's den. But he's like very many Australians, --
he's a very innocent man, and a very naive man, (laughs), I
mean no offence, but it would not have occurred to him that
you can be arrested in a country just for what you think.
But in Germany, as I say, they haven't had a very good
record on freedom of speech - or freedom of thought -- for
most of this century.
ABC:
There are reports that
he had actually arranged to speak to this prosecutor!
IRVING: Yes, indeed, and
that's what really puzzles me. So he may have been lured
into the lion's den specifically for the purpose of
arresting him as the Webmaster of this Australian
Website.
ABC:
What are your views for
him now. What is it likely he could be charged with, and
what would happen to him.
IRVING: He will be charged
under the unique German law which makes it a criminal
offence to "defame the memory of the dead." This is the
offence that I was charged with in 1991. It is a law that
exists nowhere else on earth but it's sufficient to give you
a "criminal record" and (chuckles) well, I suppose they
can't bar him from Australia now, as an Australian citizen,
it was enough to get me barred by Philipp Ruddock and by
your own Prime Minister John Howard, from visiting
Australia. If you speak the truth in Germany, truth is no
defence as far as World War II is concerned.
ABC:
Are you worried now that
he could in fact spend months perhaps in jail in
Germany?
IRVING: Yes. In Germany they
will hold him in what's called Untersuchungshaft which is
investigative custody while they make up their mind whether
to prosecute him or not. It's happened to several associates
and friends of mine. It's a way of punishing them without
any kind of redress. They will just be held locked up in a
jail, under very unpleasant circumstances, with common
criminals, although he's of course a "thought-criminal",
he's being held under these Orwellian laws that the German
Government alone has introduced.
ABC:
Would you say, would you
go so far as to say that he was in fact a bit foolish,
trying to outline his research into the Holocaust to this
German Government prosecutor - I mean, surely he should have
realised he wouldn't have been going to get a sympathetic
ear?
IRVING: I have to
say that I regard it as naive and foolish in the extreme.
But that's one of the endearing charms of the Australian
people. They are nice simple, innocent people who don't
believe that up here in the Northern hemisphere the laws are
different.
ABC:
David Irving, thank you
very much for your time.
IRVING: Thank you, ABC Radio.
Good-bye.
Focal Point 1999 Write to David Irving