REVISIONIST historian Fredrick Toben does not regret defying a court order to stop insulting Jewish people, saying "freedom of speech demands sacrifice".
The Federal Court, sitting in Adelaide, today found Toben guilty of 24 counts of contempt of court.
Justice Bruce Lander ruled Toben acted "wilfully and contumaciously" by uploading, to his website, articles implying Jews offended by Holocaust denial were of "limited intelligence".
Other articles claimed the Auschwitz concentration camp had no gas chambers, and that some Jewish people "exaggerated" the Holocaust "for improper motives".
Toben now faces a fine, jail time or both – under Australian law, the severity of those penalities are at the court's discretion.
I loathe anti-semitism more than most, however Toben's line "freedom of speech demands sacrifice" rings true.
Obviously his sacrafice for daring to speak his mind is a goal sentence, but we as citizens need to make a sacrafice too.
We need to stand-up for a Fredrick Toben's freedom of speech regardless of how repugnant we find his views.
Our freedom of speech requires this sacrifice because who knows when something we wish to say will be classed by the state to be unacceptable.
It isn't like there haven't already been attempts made.
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