Posted on 02/20/2006 2:18:43 PM PST by Annaliese
British historian David Irving sentenced to three years in prison in Austria for denying Holocaust; earlier, Irving pleaded guilty to the charges but insisted he now acknowledges killing of Jews Associated Press
(VIDEO) Going to jail: Right-wing British historian David Irving was sentenced to three years in prison in Austria on Monday for denying the Holocaust, which is illegal in in the country.
Irving, who pleaded guilty and insisted during his one-day trial that he had a change of heart and now acknowledged the Nazis' World War II slaughter of 6 million Jews, faced up to 10 years behind bars for the offense.
(Excerpt) Read more at ynetnews.com ...
Thanks for the heads up. British citizen, I'll start paying more attention.
I absolutely reject everything that Irving says but this sentence is a mockery of the right to free speech.
I may disagee with everything you say, as Voltaire once said, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
There is no question that you are right. This case is perplexing. If someone wants to deny the holocaust so what? This is their right. Shows their frame of mind, and character....but to be sent to jail. What other side of free speech is next. If we want freedom of speech to make cartoons about Islam, then it goes both ways.
"What do you think?"
I think that I believe in free speech.
The guy may be an idiot, but the law is absurd to those of us who believe in freedom.
If we back the Danes vs. the rioting Muslims regarding freedom of expression, shouldn't we also contend that this creep has the right to make a fool of himself if he wants to?
People like him (Sheehan, Moore, many others) deserve to be I.G.N.O.R.E.D. If they were, they might shut up.
But I'm an American, and what Austria does is not my business.
If they decide to jail all who are idiots, maybe we could send them Algore, Kennedy, the Clintons, Schummer, and anyone else who falls into that camp.
To send someone to jail for being an idiot is just beyond the pale.
I have been paying a lot of attention to this story so I knew without even reading the article. Easy mistake. I don't think Britain has a holocaust denial law but other European countries do. To me... it is better to let them rant about it than to make it illegal to deny of grossly downplay it.
No free speech for you in Austria. Looks as if the Fourth Reich is forming up. After they get through locking up all of the nuts who will they come for next?
I wonder if we are going to jail those who deny Islamic Terrorism [terrorism deniers] as well.
...seems to me there are a lot of protestors of cartoons that seem to deny in their otherwise, non-protesting silence-- Global Muslim Terrorism.
I don't think what people say or believe amounts to a hill of beans, it's actions not beliefs that count. Ever read 1984? We're getting there so fast, even I'm shocked. George Orwell was apparently a prophet, and he wrote 1984 in 1949. Anyway, suffice it to say, anyone who truly believes in liberty and freedom best be trying to figure out if any Big Brothers infest our neighborhoods.
Insane.
Three years for thought crime.
I have read that other EU countries had these laws and assumed Britain was one of them. I'm glad to hear their not.
"What do you think?" - Annaliese
I think that you, Annaliese, have become what what you oppose.
Somebody expects me to endorse haulin some guy off to the clink for thought crime?
This is absurd. Germany is filled with people who deny the holocaust ever happened. Where's their jail sentence??
Irving is entitled to his opinion - flawed though it may be, it isn't a criminal offense.
Lookout, EU, the thought police are coming for you next!!!
I think professional wrestling is real. Real, I tell you! I'm denying it's fixed!!! Is there a place on Earth I can go to jail for that?
In seriousness, my screen name and tagline fully explain what I think. The real criminal here isn't the "historian" with a wacky opinion, but the government thugs that kidnapped him and tossed him in a cage.
The Holocaust took 1/4 of my family. THAT'S the crime. Denying it 60-65 years later harms no one. Kidnapping, on the other hand,...
Anytime, and anywhere, a thought-crime law is "enforced," "the law" has completely lost the "respect" it probably did nothing in the first place to EARN.
This guy's an idiot, but sending him to prison for his speech is just plain wrong.
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