How long before we are jailed for not believing in God?
Or for drawing cartoons?
Why isn't Tony Blair in jail for glorifying terrorism (or is murdering women and children OK if they are Iraqui?)?
Why do I get the feeling this century Humanity is living in Cloud Cuckoo Land?
Alice Through The Looking Glass, anyone?

How long before others demand similar protection (to that afforded to the Jews) ?

under Austrian law. When in Rome do as the romans do.

3 years is not enough in my opinion

I was wondering how to start this thread myself, but you seem to have started it well enough.
So lets put this into perspective by cases that we know.
You get three years , seventeen years later for a daft speech, that you try to retract, realising your error.
You get seven years for any accussations of a any kind if you are a celeb.
And you get a year now for manslaughter, if you get decent representation and references.
There is absolutely no point whatsoever, in David Irving doing any prison time for his faux-pas, yes, it was upsetting , what he said, and he knows himself it was wrong and stupid, but the world does need historians, and this case does show that they can often be wrong.
He must have had a life of living hell, since the making of that speech, granted nothing like the people he offended, in other ways, but the line should have been drawn under it with his apolodgy.

Suggest you take a look at the BBC message boards where the overwhelming majority agree this is a ludicrous decision.

the world does need historians

The Israelis spend an awful lot of money "selling" their propaganda - but any challenge to their "version" is not to be allowed, apparently.

Ah! In the Know, more spaghetti hoops on the kitchen floor..
This is a hard one to write , as in theory, one religion or other could gaol me for it, I use remeberance candles, from the Jewish religion, eat a lot of Muslim and Mexican food, and European, have friends of different races, and then watch a demonstration in London on TV on Saturday, and feel like we are an aggressive and prejudiced little island.
Dang! Thats 2 years I have just got

nm

I do intend to go back to Barra one day. We only have nice catholics there and everyone knows they never hurt anybody.

'Suggest you take a look at the BBC message boards where the overwhelming majority agree this is a ludicrous decision......'

......out of 17 posts. Maybe it shows that people don't really care what happens to this discredited historian.
Did the guy not know that he would be arrested if he entered Austria? Why was he really there? Who pays for the upkeep of his web site?
We have to realise this is Austria not the UK and historically this is very sensitive. They have a problem there with the far right, and Irving's speech and what he has written must have delighted these dreadful factions. That old phrase 'an example must be made' cropped up in court and therefore you get one jailed historian. Other people in Austria who want to go out and raise the Swastica, start doing Nazi salutes, goose-stepping and talking about how good Hitler was have been warned!!

Free speech is great, and it's great to speak your mind, but ultimately there is a time and a place.

I think it is definitely the "when in Rome" rule, which has no relation to how Israel behaves now or whether soldiers should be in Iraq.

There will always be "nasty synthesizers" . They're just very fortunate that most countries will allow them to voice their opinions. Austria isn't one of those countries.

I can supply details of dozens of websites and other sources funded by the Israelis - purely for the purpose of spreading their propaganda.

You may not like it - but these are facts !

Wasn't the Austrian President (a few years ago) thought to have quite far right leanings?

I have no idea who invited him to Austria - but it does seem that certain people must not be offended.

Cartoons, anyone?

Austria isn't one of those countries

Austria must be more awash with ex-nazis than anywhere on earth !

A case of over-reacting to double compensate, maybe?

nm

nm

I'll leave you then in your own little blinkered world !<br><br>Post edited by: JK2006, at: 2006/02/21 18:44

Whatever happened to Freedom of Speech!!!

Ron Atkinson
Abil Hansa
Rodney Marsh
David Irving

.... All either sacked or imprisoned for things they said.....

nm

All interesting cases.

Ron Atkinson lost his job for referring to a black player as a f*****g lazy n****r live on TV. I think he was saying it for effect, without realising it was going out live. A kind of Bernard Manning style of being funny, which just doesn't work anymore. That kind of &quot;humour&quot; was rife on TV in the early 70s.Nobody told him it was no longer acceptable.

Rodney Marsh made a joke about David Beckham mixing up the ToonArmy and Tsunami. I heard far worse jokes on the same subject at my place of work.

Abu Hamza is a victim partly of Islamophobia, but also despised by 99% of Muslims in the UK and they certainly didn't mourn his sentence. The Muslims I work with in Sheffield all say they wouldn't let their kids near someone like him and his kind of speech and outlook, do nothing for the racial intolerance muslims have to endure in the UK.

David Irving voiced free speech in a country that doesn't allow it. If he wanted to say what he did, he could have gone to Iran and made himself popular with the current government.Civil liberties are ok but if you know the law of the land, don't risk your freedom by breaching it.My friend &quot;In the Know&quot; was certainly right about Waldheim's past and it would appear Austria has some kind of &quot;guilty conscience&quot; law here.

Free Speech is a funny thing.I was raised in a very strict catholic way.There was no free speech in my house. After my father died when I was 11, I told my mother there could not possibly be a god and I got battered for it, then dragged off to Church to confess what I had said and reminded constantly of what a wicked evil thing I had said and made to pray for weeks on end. You learned quickly there!