- TORONTO (CP) - Holocaust-denier
Ernst Zundel told a judge Friday that Canadian courts have no authority
over a U.S.-based website administered by his American wife that the Canadian
Human Rights Commission says spreads anti-Semitic messages.
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- "Am I going to ask my wife, from my jail cell, to
enforce a ruling that does not apply to her?" Zundel replied when
asked if he'd comply with the commission's order to remove the offending
material from www.zundelsite.org.
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- "I cannot. I have no means."
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- Zundel, 64, has repeatedly said he has no control over
the website, and told his detention review Friday that "there's no
court in Canada that can force my wife" to remove the material.
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- But Federal Court Judge Pierre Blais, who'll determine
if Zundel should be released from jail pending an assessment of whether
he's a security risk, said he had "serious doubts" regarding
Zundel's claims of cyber-ignorance.
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- "There's a decision made; he didn't comply with
the decision," Blais said of the commission's ruling, putting the
question of compliance to Zundel after expressing dissatisfaction with
the Crown's line of questioning.
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- "I want to know if he'll comply" now that he's
back in Canada, Blais said.
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- In January 2002, the tribunal ruled that the site contravened
the Canadian Human Rights Act and found that Zundel had "effective
control of the site."
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- But defence lawyer Doug Christie argued that "I
can't stop her" was a perfectly valid defence and that it was wrong
of Blais to conclude Zundel was refusing to abide by the ruling.
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- "It's not a breach of the order if he doesn't do
anything," Christie said. "It's (Zundel's wife) not complying,
and she's not obliged to."
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- Zundel's connection to the website was also called into
question by the Crown, which told the court the site recently posted a
letter written by Zundel from his jail cell.
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- "I didn't even know until you showed me now that
it was posted," Zundel said.
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- Zundel, who fled to Tennessee to live with his wife before
the Canadian Human Rights Commission ruling came down, is seeking freedom
pending a review of a federal security certificate issued earlier this
year that says he's a security risk.
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- The certificate could send him back to Germany to face
charges of suspicion of incitement of hatred.
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- Zundel assured the court Friday that, if deported to
Germany, he'd surrender himself to Canadian authorities willingly.
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- "I will not go into hiding, I will not run away,
that's not my style," he said, but added he'll exhaust all possible
legal avenues to fight deportation.
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- Throughout the review, which began in May, government
lawyers have repeatedly tried to link Zundel with other Holocaust-deniers
and white supremacists.
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- Zundel was jailed in February when he was deported to
Canada from the United States for overstaying a visitor's visa.
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- He immediately applied for refugee status in Canada but
was denied release by the Immigration and Refugee Board three times before
Ottawa suspended the application May 2, one day after the security certificate
was issued.
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- Once Zundel's detention review is complete, a judge must
decide whether the security certificate, much of it based on secret evidence
from the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, is reasonable.
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- Once approved, the certificate becomes an immediate removal
order.
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- Zundel remains in solitary confinement at Toronto's Metro
West Detention Centre.
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- Copyright © 2003, CANOE, a division of Netgraphe
Inc. All rights reserved.
- http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Law/2003/05/16/89115-cp.html
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