Toben issues "apology", says he will "submit to censorship"

Written apology over holocaust denial

ABC News
April 28, 2009

A man who breached Federal Court orders to remove website material which denied the holocaust has issued a written apology.

Fredrick Toben, 65, was found guilty of 24 charges of contempt for breaching orders not to publish material vilifying Jewish people on his Adelaide Institute website.

At a hearing in Adelaide on the penalty he should receive, Toben said he would submit to censorship.

He provided a written apology through his lawyer.

The court heard Toben had previously said he would rather go to jail on principle than pay a fine.

But Toben told the court he unreservedly apologised for his breaches of court orders and would not withdraw his apology as he had in the past.

Judge Bruce Lander said it was clear Toben did not have the money to pay a fine or the legal costs of the senior member of Australia's Jewish community, Jeremy Jones, who instigated the proceedings.

But Judge Lander expressed concern Toben could breach the orders again if he felt he had been provoked.

The judge said Toben did not seem to understand that the case was not scrutinising his beliefs or determining whether the holocaust happened.

The court will impose a sentence later.