Three months in jail for Toben

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Holocaust denier Fredrick Toben was sentenced to three months in prison today for failing to remove Holocaust denying material from his Adelaide Institute web site.

Jeremy Jones

In Adelaide’s Federal Court today, Justice Bruce Lander sentenced Toben to three months’ imprisonment with a 14-day reprieve.

This is the first time in Australian legal history that offences covered by the Racial Discrimination Act have lead to a prison sentence. Toben was found guilty two weeks ago on 24 charges of contempt of court.

The charges were brought in a civil action by Jeremy Jones, a former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. He was represented in Court today by Robin Margo SC.

Jones had shown concern that Toben’s Adelaide Institute website had still been populated with Holocaust denial material in spite of a court order that the content must be removed. Jones told J-Wire: “All of the 28 complaints took place since November 2007. One of Toben’s biggest misrepresentations is about himself. He is not a historian. He is no more than an anti-Jewish propagandist.

The background: In 2002 Justice Branson upheld claims made by Jeremy Jones that Toben’s web

site breached the Racial Discrimination Act. Toben’s site claimed the Holocaust was a hoax.He was ordered to remove all offending material from the site.  In 2006,  complaints were raised again with Toben firstly assuring the court and Jones that the site would comply with the court’s instructions but later reneging on that assurance.

The 14-day reprieve was in response to a stay requested by David Perkins, Toben’s lawyer. It was granted on the basis that Toben does not leave the country. He was reported to be due to leave Australia tomorrow for a conference in Teheran.

The sentence was welcomed by Robert Goot, President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. He told J-Wire: “The sentence should deter Dr Toben and other like-minded people from disobeying orders of the Court.”