Austria arrests British historian charged with denying Holocaust News
Austria arrests British historian charged with denying Holocaust

[JURIST] A spokesman for Austria's Interior Ministry [official website] said Thursday that British historian David Irving [BBC profile] has been arrested on a warrant accusing him of denying the Holocaust. Irving has argued in his books that the scale of the extermination of the Jews during World War II has been exaggerated and has claimed Hitler knew nothing of the Holocaust. Irving was on his way to give a lecture in Vienna when he was arrested and transferred to a prison in Graz. The detention stemmed from a warrant issued in 1989 under Austrian laws that make Holocaust denial a crime. Last week, the trial of another Holocaust denier, Ernst Zundel [CBC profile], began in Germany [JURIST report, but the judge later suspended the trial [JURIST report] after firing one of Zundel's lawyers who the judge said would not defend Zundel properly. BBC News has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

South Africa becomes first country on continent to legalize same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal in South Africa on November 30, 2006 as the country's Civil Union Act, 2006 went into effect, making South Africa the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage. Read the Civil Union Act, 2006.