High Commissioner to the UK,
Mr. John Dauth LVO,
Australian High Commission,
Strand, London, WC2B 4LA.
Fax: 0207 240 5333


Your Excellency,

As you will be aware the British police and Crown Prosecution Service have executed a Mannheim-originating warrant on an Australian national, the historian Dr. Fredrick Töben, who was arrested onboard an aeroplane at Heathrow while simply in transit from the USA to Dubai.

Even as he had no intention of entering Britain, he was seized off the aeroplane and brought into this country where his alleged crimes do not even constitute an offence.
For the first time, therefore, the European Arrest Warrant is being used in a manner that we in Britain were assured would not be applied in Britain, which has declined to adopt a “Holocaust denial” law, because it is contrary to British traditions of freedom of enquiry and expression.

The situation is summed up in today’s Times http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article4863800.ece
under the headline:  “Extradition bid raises fears of 'thought crime' offences”.

I trust that the High Commission will provide consular assistance to Dr. Töben and will monitor this disturbing and unprecedented development so as to keep our fellow Australians informed of what they can expect from the UK legal system when travelling or in transit.

Yours truly
Michèle Renouf