AAARGH
April 13, 1999
Attention: Assignment Editor
Ernst Zündel has won three judicial reviews against decisions
of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The Tribunal is hearing
complaints against Mr. Zündel under section 13 of the Canadian
Human Rights Act laid by Sabina Citron and the Toronto Mayor's
Committee on Community and Race Relations which allege that he
is inciting hatred against Jewish people in the Internet website,
the "Zundelsite." The site is owned and operated by
Dr. Ingrid Rimland in California, United States.
The rulings, made by Mr. Justice Campbell of the Federal Court
of Canada on April 13, 1999 in Toronto, found that Mr. Zündel
had a reasonable apprehension that one of the members of the Human
Rights Tribunal, Reva Esther Devins, a Toronto lawyer, was biased
against him. The apprehension of bias was based on a 1988 press
release issued by the Ontario Human Rights Commission when Ms.
Devins sat as a Commissioner. In the press release, the Ontario
Human Rights Commission "applauded" the criminal conviction
of Mr.
Zündel for spreading false news about the Holocaust in the
publication "Did Six Million Really Die?" and denounced
him as a liar.
Mr. Justice Campbell held that the press release was a gratuitous
attack on Mr. Zündel which Mr. Zündel was right to believe
raised a reasonable apprehension of bias against him on the part
of Reva E. Devins.
The Court also quashed two rulings made by the Human Rights Tribunal
with Ms. Devins' participation. In these rulings, the Tribunal
had held that the truth of the statements complained of was irrelevant
and that Mr. Zündel would be unable to call any evidence
to prove truth. In the second ruling, the Tribunal had refused
to qualify Dr. Alexander Jacob as an expert witness in the history
of antiSemitism. The Court held that the "extraordinary circumstances"
of the finding of bias required its intervention.
The rulings throw into doubt the entire proceedings before the
Tribunal as all rulings made are tainted by the participation
by Reva E. Devins and subject to further review by the courts.
Douglas H. Christie, lawyer for Mr. Zündel has written to
the Canadian Human Rights Commission, demanding that the complaints
be withdrawn.
Mr. Zündel says, "The struggle for the Germans to tell
their side of the story of World War II continues. How many millions
more will Canadian governments spend on shoring up the Jewish
version of history?"
Afficher un texte sur le Web équivaut à mettre un document sur le rayonnage d'une bibliothèque publique. Cela nous coûte un peu d'argent et de travail. Nous pensons que c'est le lecteur volontaire qui en profite et nous le supposons capable de penser par lui-même. Un lecteur qui va chercher un document sur le Web le fait toujours à ses risques et périls. Quant à l'auteur, il n'y a pas lieu de supposer qu'il partage la responsabilité des autres textes consultables sur ce site. En raison des lois qui instituent une censure spécifique dans certains pays (Allemagne, France, Israël, Suisse, Canada, et d'autres), nous ne demandons pas l'agrément des auteurs qui y vivent car ils ne sont pas libres de consentir.
Nous nous plaçons sous
la protection de l'article 19 de la Déclaration des Droits
de l'homme, qui stipule:
ARTICLE 19
<Tout individu a droit à la liberté d'opinion
et d'expression, ce qui implique le droit de ne pas être
inquiété pour ses opinions et celui de chercher,
de recevoir et de répandre, sans considération de
frontière, les informations et les idées par quelque
moyen d'expression que ce soit>
Déclaration internationale des droits de l'homme,
adoptée par l'Assemblée générale de
l'ONU à Paris, le 10 décembre 1948.