*** Bulletin: Ernst Zundel will be deported in two days ***
zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
Sun Feb 27 08:37:05 EST 2005
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To all our Zundel friends:
It is true. Unless a snow storm interferes, Ernst will be deported
on Tuesday to Germany. What happens next, no one can even guess.
I did not know this until late yesterday. I had talked to Ernst on
Friday at noon, twice, and he told me not to worry, not to let myself
be spooked - that there were procedures and appeals that could and
would still be followed, and that his deportation was likely still
weeks away. I conveyed that information to media.
Ernst tried to reach me on Friday evening, but I was gone to inspect
a project with a friend, and it was not until almost 6 p.m. on
Saturday when I read in the Globe and Mail - article below - that the
issue was decided, that deportation would be the next step. Shortly
afterwards, his son called me and verified this information. He said
he had seen his father who looked "remarkably good," calm and
composed, and that he had agreed to be deported.
An hour later, Ernst called and told me the same. When I asked him
to give me a hint why he had changed his mind, why now, and what
would happen next, he said: "You wouldn't want me to tell you with
the censors listening, would you?"
That is really all I can tell you right now. The news is all over
Europe - and, naturally, all over the American continent. I had many
calls from Germany and other places, and the most common comment is:
"At least he'll get a chair in Germany!"
I will keep you informed on what will happen next. I don't expect
any other personal news for another week or so. Below is the
write-up as the Globe and Mail ran it:
[START]
Friday, February 25, 2005 Updated at 7:12 PM EST
Zundel Gives Up Deportation Fight
Toronto-
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050225.wzund0225_3/BNStory/National/>http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050225.wzund0225_3/BNStory/National/
Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel has abandoned his lengthy fight to stay
in Canada and is slated to be deported to Germany as early as
Tuesday, his lawyer said Friday.
In a bitter denunciation of the Canadian legal system, lawyer Peter
Lindsay said there was no point in trying to remedy the "horrible
unfairness" to which Zundel had been subjected.
"He won't be asking for a stay," Mr. Lindsay told The Canadian Press.
"This is an unfair process. Everyone has turned their backs on him."
Mr. Lindsay said authorities had told him they were not prepared to
wait to see if the Supreme Court of Canada would hear his allegation
of judicial bias or rule on the constitutionality of Canada's
anti-terrorism laws.
An Immigration spokesman said they planned to deport Zundel as soon
as possible.
"He's in a position now where we can legally remove him and that's
our intention," Doug Kellam of the Canadian Border Services Agency
said Friday
Mr. Lindsay had said earlier that he did not expect the deportation
to happen for at least another week or two so he would have the
opportunity to seek a stay of removal pending the high court
decisions.
But the situation appeared hopeless, especially because no one
appears interested in protecting the rights of unpopular people, he
said later.
"Probably no one cares because Mr. Ernst Zundel is notorious and
reviled," he said. "We should care. But ... most of us don't give a
damn."
Mr. Zundel, 65, faces immediate prosecution on his return to his
native Germany, where he is wanted for running afoul of German laws
against denying the Holocaust.
"He will be picked up immediately and then arrested," a German
official who requested anonymity said Friday.
"If there is an arrest warrant, then we have to prosecute if he's in
our jurisdiction."
Of particular importance will be determining whether Mr. Zundel, a
German national, is responsible for the website that bears his name
and what exactly it contains, the official said.
On Thursday, Federal Court Justice Pierre Blais smoothed the way to
expel Mr. Zundel, finding him to be a hatemonger who poses a threat
to national security because of his close association with white
supremacist and neo-Nazi groups that have resorted to violence to
press their political and social causes.
Mr. Zundel has spent more than four decades in Canada, the last two
years in solitary confinement in a Toronto jail, held under
anti-terrorism legislation.
In his 63-page decision cheered by Jewish organizations both in
Canada and the United States, Judge Blais concluded that Mr. Zundel
was a hypocrite who nurtured extremist neo-Nazi views behind a veil
of pacifism.
"Zundel's activities are not only a threat to Canada's national
security but also a threat to the international community of
nations," Judge Blais wrote.
In light of the ruling, B'nai Brith Canada demanded Ottawa kick him
out immediately.
"There must be no more excuses or further delays," said Frank Dimant,
executive vice-president of the Jewish group.
Zundel supporter Paul Fromm of the Canadian Association of Free
Expression said he was "bitterly disappointed" because there was no
evidence linking Mr. Zundel to violence.
"We're not dealing with a man who's a terrorist. He has the wrong
political views," Mr. Fromm said from Winnipeg. "That's a shocking
departure from what most Canadians think of when they think of a
terrorist."
Mr. Zundel, a longtime resident of Toronto, moved to the United
States where he tried to gain citizenship. He was arrested in
Tennessee for overstaying his visa and deported to Canada in February
2003.
His incarceration under controversial provisions that allow for
indefinite detention has prompted several rallies in his support.
Despite his long stay in Canada, during which he has had frequent
legal battles, Mr. Zundel was never able to convert his landed
immigrant status into citizenship.
He has long argued the Holocaust never occurred, and that Jews have
used the "alleged" atrocities as a way to extort money from the
German government.
Last month, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed shame over
the horrors of the Nazi era in which six million Jews and as many
others were murdered in concentration camps.
[END]
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