«It is hard to see what the Austrian court's sentence [contra David Irving] can add to that. Keeping Mr Irving in jail at most may stop him going to a conference that Mr Ahmadinejad is convening to ?rewrite and revise? the history of the holocaust. But against that small plus are two big minuses. One is that the sentence makes Mr Irving look a martyr. The other is that it makes the West look hypocritical: all too willing to bruise Muslim feelings, while protecting Jewish ones by law.
Laws against holocaust denial (which 14 countries have) were never a good idea. The best defence against neo-Nazis is reason and ridicule, not the criminal law. But at a time when the western world is battling to defend free speech against religious zealotry, they look particularly indefensible. It is punishment enough for Mr Irving that he has lost his professional credibility. He should not lose his liberty too.»
(The Economist, 23 Fevereiro de 2006)
