Why did Amnesty not Intervene in the Irving Case?

HAVING read your article about Amnesty International, I recall writing to this organisation soon after you were imprisoned in Austria. I suppose the negative response I received was expected, however it does demonstrate the duplicity of this organisation.

All the very best

John Gilchrist

Some restrictions apply – Amnesty International admits it is for free speech — their speech, not that of others 

I HAVE just learnt that Mr. David Irving, a renowned Historian has been arrested in Austria for nothing more than expressing historical opinion at a meeting of students. I have no method of communicating with this person or any knowledge whether he is being adequately represented. Can you tell me what steps you are taking to secure his release?

John Gilchrist

 Amnesty International replied after a week, December 12, 2005

THANK you for your email concerning Amnesty International’s position on David Irving’s arrest.

Amnesty International’s position on the issue of ‘Holocaust denial’ is based on international human rights standards. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states, in Article 19, that everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression, but that certain restrictions may be placed on that right if they are necessary for the respect of the rights of others; Article 20 states that any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

In line with this and other international human rights standards, Amnesty International works for the right to free expression and adopts as prisoners of conscience people who are imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression, however it will not adopt as prisoners of conscience people who are imprisoned for using hate speech to deliberately or recklessly incite acts of violence, discrimination, or hostility against another group.

The language used to advocate hatred is not always explicit or direct. Sometimes it uses euphemisms which, over the years, become well known, such as denying the occurrence of the Holocaust and thereby alleging that the extensive documentation of the Holocaust is fraudulent and that its victims are lying. Since Jews, Roma, gay persons, and disabled persons were the principal victims of the Holocaust and are still subject to discrimination, this can constitute advocacy of hatred and an incitement to discrimination and hostility against those groups.

In line with its normal practice, when applying the policy to individual cases, AI [Amnesty International] considers each case on its own merit. In cases where it determines that an individual who has been imprisoned for denying the Holocaust has, in effect, advocated hatred as described above, AI would not adopt them as prisoners of conscience. This is the reason why we will not adopt David Irving as a prisoner of conscience.

Marie-Anne Ventoura Supporter Care Team
Amnesty International UK Tel: 020 7033 1777
Amnesty International UK
The Human Rights Action Centre
17-25 New Inn Yard London EC2A 3EA

 John Gilchrist then wrote to Amnesty International:

I MUST say that I am rather disturbed by your insensitivity towards this man’s plight. Not the response I would have expected from an organisation reputedly dedicated to helping people who are the victims of conscience.

I am not aware of the allegations of racial hatred you are directing towards Mr. Irving. To my knowledge, having read several of Mr. Irving’s books, he does not mention anything about “Holocaust denial”, nor has he ever written a book on that subject. His books diarize in great detail the events of the second world war – warts and all; something that other historians either fail to report or are too lazy to research.

I think any reasonable person will agree that the truth, however unpopular, is far more important than lies, which distort history and offer no real hope of peace in this unstable world. Palestine and Iraq for example are the main ones that come to mind.

If in your opinion Mr. Irving has committed a crime then why hasn’t he been arrested, in the USA or indeed his own country the UK? Aren’t your actions rather reminiscent of past dictators in judging a person solely by his reputation?

I am not too young to remember the ‘Soviet Gulags’ for which so many innocent people found their way for no other crime than to express opinions contrary to the ruling elite; and were allowed to rot for precisely the same reasons you are condemning Mr. Irving. Perhaps I am witnessing for once the true face of your organisation.

John Gilchrist

ITEMS FROM OUR DOSSIER ON THE ARREST, TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT OF DAVID IRVING

• How it all began: Volksstimme, Nov 8, 1989: Sperrfeuer gegen Irving – Zwei weitere Auftritte inzwischen verboten | and the communist Volksstimme: Nur noch vor 80 treuen konnte der neonazinahe „Historiker’ Montag nacht in Wien reden (German) – the next day the arrest warrant was issued.
• Nov 8, 1989: After a communist-inspired riot in Vienna the socialist government issued an Arrest Warrant against David Irving at the behest of the Dokumentationsachiv des österreichischen Widerstands (i.e., Dr Erika Weinzierl).
• Nov 24. 1989: Mr Irving thanks his Austrian lawyer Dr Herbert Schaller
• June 22, 1992: Those nice folks next door: Flashback – the Austrian ambassador in London answers a demand from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, promises to arrest Mr Irving
• Mar 10, 1994: the Austrian Government tells Australia that an Arrest Warrant was issued against Mr Irving on Nov 8, 1989 | [ and original German text]
• Oct 2001: David Irvine, son of the Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine, is arrested in Vienna in mistake for the British writer

Mr Irving’s arrest on Nov 11, 2005

• Memoirs draft on the circumstances of Mr Irving’s arrest
• Mr Irving’s memoirs: The historian’s dramatic arrest by armed Austrian police in November 2005
• Our website first announces that David Irving has been arrested in Austria on Nov 10, 2005
• Feb 2, 2006: How they prepared for the worst at the Vienna Show-Trial of David Irving [and German original]
• Flashback: The Age, Australia, was among first to report on Nov 19, 2005 Mr Irving’s secret arrest  | Neutral German-language summary by Wiener Nachrichten Online of the history of the legal persecution of Irving, 2000-2006
• The blind fury of the German media at Mr Irving:
  • NS-Revisionist David Irving in Wien inhaftiert (20. November 2005)
  • David Irving bleibt in Wiener Untersuchungshaft (25. November 2005)
  • David Irvings Prozess vermutlich im Februar (2. Dezember 2005)
  • Gerichtszeugin schreibt sich warm &endash; Christa Zöchling im “Profil” (26. Dezember 2005)
• Erika Weinzierl: David Irving übt “gezielte Provokation des Staates” (27. Dezember 2005)
• Daily Telegraph interviews Mr Irving’s brother, Feb 2006, and gets its leg pulled
• Gillian Reynolds comments on the BBC Radio Four broadcast on the 2000 Lipstadt trial (rebroadcast on the occasion of the Vienna trial)
• Letters written from his Austrian prison cell by David Irving to his friends, Nov 2005 to Dec 2006
• Jan 2006, The Observer prints Malte Herwig’s study of Mr Irving: “Hitler? Good in Parts”
• Daily Telegraph interviews Mr Irving’s brother, Feb 2006, and gets its leg pulled
• In March 2006 Mr Irving wrote in German from his Vienna prison comparing the world press reaction to the three year jail sentence with the spiteful German and Austrian media 
• David Irving: A Radical’s Diary: The Appeal, and Release
  A very filthy cell. . . I lie down and wait for the glaring ceiling light to go out. It stays on all night.

Show Trial in Vienna, Feb 20, 2006

• Feb 22, 2006: The Irish Times says the imprisonment of David Irving displays European hypocrisy towards Jews. “I have read most of David Irving’s works. He is a brilliant researcher, is partly mad, and is clearly bad. But those who say he denies the Nazi programme of genocide of Jews simply haven’t read his writings.”
• Mr Irving’s autobiography, continued: The show trial in Vienna
• Radical’s Diary: The trial
• Daily Telegraph interviews Mr Irving’s brother, Feb 2006, and gets its leg pulled
• Gillian Reynolds comments on the BBC Radio Four broadcast on the 2000 Lipstadt trial (rebroadcast on the occasion of the Vienna trial)
• Kate Connolly, right, The Daily Telegraph’s Berlin correspondent. Read her web diary, Feb 21, 2006, the day after the Irving trial in Vienna: “The interesting tale of David Irving” and the scores of supporting letters she received
• David Irving zu drei Jahren Haft verurteilt – Bildvorschau (20. Februar 2006)
• My perfect place to hang Irving kvells Giles Coren in The Times | and David Irving’s answer

IMPRISONMENT 2005-2006 awaiting appeal

• Der Spiegel asks a German historian, Hans-Ulrich Wehler, should British historian David Irving be placed behind bars? He says: “Pity for this Man is Out of Place” 
• Australian Jewish News: Irving should not be censored, said Prof Singer in June 2006 
• Letters written from his Austrian prison cell by David Irving to his friends, November 2005 to December 2006
• Mr Irving’s memoirs: Incarceration in Austria’s oldest jail: charged with serious thought-crime

Mr Irving’s appeal court victory on Dec 20, 2006

• David Irving: A Radical’s Diary: The Appeal, and Release
  A very filthy cell. . . I lie down and wait for the glaring ceiling light to go out. It stays on all night.
• BBC: Irving not remorseful after jail : David Irving complains he was jailed for expressing “wrong views”
• BBC: Reactions to Irving release
  An Austrian court’s decision to release on probation UK historian David Irving – jailed for Holocaust denial – has prompted dismay among international Jewish organisations
• BBC: Irving not remorseful after jail : David Irving complains he was jailed for expressing “wrong views”
• Vienna’s left wing press whines at the Judge who ordered Mr Irving’s release The right wing judge gets grouchy | German original

PRESS CONFERENCE, London, Dec 22, 2006 and aftermath

• Click here for hi-res images of David Irving’s Dec 22, 2006 press conference in London: [1][2] [3] [4] >>
• David Irving: A Radical’s Diary: The Appeal, and Release A very filthy cell. . . I lie down and wait for the glaring ceiling light to go out. It stays on all night.
• The tragedy is that David Irving has emerged as a champion of free speech, says Joan Bakewell
• Letters to Deutsche Welle – a German-government website – unanimously praise David Irving and his appeal court victory
• American Free Press: David Irving is Back in London – was Railroaded into Jail by his own Attorney
• Lipstadt changes her spots. Remember how Deborah Lipstadt wailed that it was a crime for David Irving to be imprisoned for his opinions? Well, now she’s wailing that it is a crime for him to be released. See her web campaign against the right-minded Austrian judge: Irving given probation | Judges in Irving’s probation hearing [sic] | More on Judge in Irving’s Austrian case
• Irving says will bring Austria before UN Human Rights Council | Wiener Zeitung: Irving geht vor Menschenrechtsrat der Vereinten Nationen |
• Austrian Socialist party demands only Left-wing judges try such cases in future: OLG-Entscheidung nicht nachvollziehbar: Es stellt sich die Frage, ob Richter Maurer der geeignete Senatsvorsitzende in einer solchen Sache ist | Why was David Irving allowed out of Jail? asks Wiesenthal Center’s Efraim Zuroff | YNet, Israel: Law without justice
•  BBC video of Mr Irving’s Dec 22 London press conference: video | audio | interview with an opponent (three times longer) 
• BBC Today radio dialogue between star interviewer John Humphreys and Mr Irving on Dec 23, 2005: He shows no remorse
• Here’s an odd thing The result of the post-trial History News Network poll “Jail David Irving?” has been removed – but all the other postings have been left on | Flashback to Jun 2000: Australian poll, should historians be silenced?
• RAW writes Sunday, January 7, 2007 10:41 pm:
• “I just finished listening to audio of a BBC reporter interviewing you after your release. What jackasses these people are!”
• Canadian Online newspaper Orato exclusive: “Holocaust Historian David Irving Released From Prison: His First Interview From The Outside” 
• Vienna’s left wing press whining at the Judge who ordered Mr Irving’s release The right wing judge gets grouchy | German original | Germany wants Holocaust denial to be EU-wide crime  [Memo to Berlin: you blew it last time you tried to call the shots, in 1945; remember?] | International Herald Tribune: Berlin seeks to bar Holocaust denial in EU 
• On Jan 7 the brilliant journalist Christopher Hitchens (right) on TV Ontario defended the right of David Irving not be imprisoned in Austria for his views. [audio link or Click this link and then “Christopher Hitchens” – each time we post the actual TVO link it is changed]. 
• In German: Deutsche National Zeitung publishes Exklusiv-Interview mit Irving: „Ich habe im Gefängnis 4.000 Seiten geschrieben” David Irving ist frei – jetzt geht er in die Offensive