European socialist empire moving against intellectual freedom

Search first, charge later: the EU way

David Irving, the British historian, is in an Austrian jail facing trial on a charge of denying the Holocaust - a crime there and in several other European countries, but not in ours. Serves him right, you may say. He returned to Austria knowing that he could be arrested over two lectures he gave in 1989. It may not be the British way - at least not yet - to jail someone for a thought or for an obnoxious interpretation of history, but that is Austrian law and Mr Irving, who committed his offence in Austria, must face the music.

But imagine if Austria could order the Met to search Mr Irving's home and office in England for evidence, and seize papers and documents. Could it possibly be right for the British authorities to enter a person's home at the request of a foreign court to obtain evidence for the prosecution of a crime that is not a crime in Britain?

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