SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — The Web site of a revisionist historian living in Australia questioned whether his three-month jail sentence for Holocaust denial could be his “final solution.”
The Adelaide Institute site also wondered whether institute founder Dr. Fredrick Toben would be “gassed on arrival” at Yatala Labor Prison in South Australia, attorney Robin Margo told an Australian federal court on Thursday. Margo blasted the question as "scandalous."
Margo asked the court to initiate contempt-of-court proceedings against Peter Hartung, who succeeded Toben as director of the Adelaide Institute, for “gross contempt in the face of the court.” Margo said the anti-Semitic material still being published on the Australian institute’s Web site was in contempt of previous court orders.
Justice Anthony Besanko agreed to consider whether to launch proceedings against Hartung.
Toben, who was found guilty on 24 counts of contempt, was sentenced earlier this month for refusing to remove the denial material from the site. Besanko will rule Tuesday on Toben’s appeal. If the appeal is rejected, Toben will be imprisoned immediately.
Margo is representing former Executive Council of Australian Jewry President Jeremy Jones, and said his client has been pursuing Toben for publishing offensive material about Jews since 1996.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
