SA: Lawyer hired for historian jailed in Germany

AAP General News (Australia)
04-12-1999
SA: Lawyer hired for historian jailed in Germany

ADELAIDE, April 12 AAP - The Adelaide Institute has hired a German lawyer to represent its
director, Fredrick Toben, who has been arrested in Germany for disputing the severity of the
Holocaust.

Institute assistant director Geoff Muirden said he had arranged for a lawyer from Mannheim
to represent Dr Toben, who he said had been detained for four days on a charge of "defaming
the memory of the dead".

Supporters of Dr Toben, including well-known British historian David Irving, say the
Adelaide man has been held at Mannheim Prison after being arrested for challenging widely
accepted details about the Holocaust on his website.

But neither the Australian government nor Mr Muirden had full details of Dr Toben's
situation.

"We unfortunately don't have any firsthand information," Mr Muirden told AAP.

"He (the lawyer) is the man who is going to give us information. Hopefully he will be able
to get into prison to see what Dr Toben's condition is and to clarify the charges."

Mr Muirden said the Adelaide Institute had received messages of support from all over the
world for Dr Toben, who is expected to appear in court in Mannheim today.

But a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the German authorities
had been unable to confirm that Dr Toben had been arrested or charged.

"We asked the German authorities there, the prison authorities and so forth, whether there
was any record and there wasn't," he said.

"It's something of a mystery but we will continue to ask the German authorities if they do
have this information."

AAP sn/bm/br

KEYWORD: GERMANY TOBEN (CARRIED EARLIER)

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