Holocaust denier says he’s ‘unbroken’ after prison

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) -- A Holocaust denier released from an Australian jail after publishing material offensive to Jews says he is "unbroken" and "unrepentant."

Dr. Fredrick Toben, the founder of the Adelaide Institute, emerged from three months in a South Australia prison on Nov. 12.

The Federal Court had found him in breach of a 2002 court order to remove all offensive material from his institute’s Web site.

Toben's site this week carried a message saying that he is “unbroken and unrepentant,” and appears “refreshed and relaxed” after his “little holiday.”

The site features three links to video clips on YouTube during which Toben, 65, vows to continue his work “demolishing the Holocaust.” It also carries a banner saying that “The days are numbered for the greatest lie in the history of mankind.”

Toben also spent two months in Wandsworth Prison last year as German authorities tried unsuccessfully to extradite him on a European Arrest Warrant for publishing Holocaust denial material -- a crime in Germany. Toben was arrested at Heathrow Airport on his way to Dubai from America. continues here

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Tea Party Counterprotesters' Violent Clash with Anti-Immigration Crowd

(FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) - A media group called World Net Daily, sent Salem-News.com a video clip this morning of a violent clash between protesters at an anti-immigration counter protest in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

The group claims that last Saturday, "Che Guevara supporters with a radical pro-amnesty coalition viciously attacked and bludgeoned tea party protesters at a Florida anti-illegal-immigration rally."

Che Guevara died in 1967. His image lives on through signs and t-shirts and certainly a few campfire stories, but how do you actually support a dead Revolutionary who hasn't been around for 42 years? I quickly realized that the spin on this one was high speed, but I found it interesting.

My first thought after watching the video was that it was pretty alarming stuff, very violent, and the clip has all of these little tags with words telling you what is taking place.

The media group that sent us this video is clearly is on the side of the anti-immigration crowd, but they caused me to believe, particularly with the accompanying tags telling the story, that the pro-immigration crowd may have gone too far.

But then I started searching for related videos on YouTube, and I found the same video, with different captions, published by The ANSWER Coalition, a group that says it has been on the front lines of the immigrant rights struggle for years.

They presented the story very differently.

In their words, "several white supremacist organizations, including the Minutemen and Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), initiated Anti-Amnesty Tea Parties across the country."

They say the rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, included people holding racist signs like "Spay and Neuter Your Mexican" and chants such as "white power".

World Net Daily claims that two Fort Lauderdale tea party protesters, "were brutally beaten by pro-amnesty activists on the day of the nationwide rally as they attempted to film Florida's Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition counter protest."

The ANSWER Coalition responded yesterday by claiming that the widely circulated ALIPAC video depicting a confrontation between the two sides is a propaganda piece meant to distort the realities of what took place.

ANSWER Florida says they organized the demonstration to show political opposition to what they see as a message of racism, put forward by these organizations.

"The demonstration gathered on the opposite street corner from the Anti-Amnesty rally. At no point did the ANSWER demonstrators cross over to the location of the other rally."

A spokesperson for The ANSWER Coalition says their group is peaceful, but has faced increasing threats when protesting near the different right-wing groups in recent months.

This may help explain an email sent out before the Tea Party by The ANSWER Coalition. It was called "provocative" by The Huffington Post.

The email, according to some, is calling supporters to arms. Right-wing Internet sites have it published everywhere.

The ANSWER Coalition says ultra-right and fascist forces are feeling emboldened right now.

Sarah Sloan, National Staff Coordinator for The ANSWER Coalition in Washington D.C. told Salem-News.com today that the word "militant" in the email is mean as a show of strength, and she says it is symbolic of their convictions.

"In this case militant means having a strong feeling or belief in something you are expressing. The people opposing us are carrying guns, they are already threatening and dangerous."

The group stated in a news release, "They have Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Glenn Beck and other right-wing mouthpieces in the mass media pumping out hate, hysteria and xenophobia seven days a week. It would be a serious mistake to minimize the danger posed by pro-fascist elements in the United States."

The Tea Party's ties to racism are proven and simultaneously disproven in another video clip, shot by Phoenix Channel 3 News, of a Tea Party rally in that state.

This shows a racist neo-Nazi trying to unfurl a banner with Hitler's face, being attacked by an angry Tea Party protester who clearly states that the movement is not about racism.

And in his eyes it clearly wasn't.

So this group of angry mostly white protesters, who are also the anti-Obama and anti-healthcare crowd, certainly have earnest members who mean what they say and are only in this case, protesting illegal immigration.

But their rallies are also very clearly a no less than a magnet for the scum of the earth, modern-day Nazi party members who are the most flagrant exploiters of American Civil Rights, assembling in ways that are not and have not been allowed in Europe since the defeat of the Third Reich, sometimes with the support of groups like the American Civil Liberties Union.

Of course they have a right to assemble and that is a fact, but in this case they picked a bad crowd, just as they would have if they had set up shop near the pro-immigration demonstrators. This anti-Nazi position demonstrates the common ground that obviously exists between these opposing groups. Hopefully a day will come when these hardcore positions can be abandoned.

Yet The ANSWER Coalition seems as rigidly determined to stem the flow of racism, as the mostly-white anti-immigration crowd is resigned to holding their ground over immigration, healthcare and higher taxes for wealthy Americans.

The ANSWER Coalition says times no longer allow the hoods, white robes and swastikas, the primary symbols of the ultra right, but the core, poisonous message has only been repackaged.

There was a time when militant left-wing groups made big headlines in the world. In the 1950's and 1960's it was people like Fidel Castro, Che Guevera and many others, who fought the ruling classes, along with groups like FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army, and in the U.S., The Symbionese Liberation Army which kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst.

But Sloan says the email comments are not a call to violence, she says they are a reminder as to who they are dealing with.

"This is about being able to protest without the harassment of others. We all know that some of these extreme right-wing groups are connected with militias and they carry guns and they are dangerous."

One thing clear in the videos from Fort Lauderdale that seems indisputable, is the fact that a right-wing protester, carrying a video camera, entered the area where the pro-Amnesty counter protesters were assembled.

Exactly what happened is not perfectly clear, but it probably would not have happened if the right-wing protester had not walked into the counter protester crowd.

In a related video, activist Robert Erickson "punked" the Tea Party crowd in Minnesota with a speech that, "exposed the hypocrisy of the white supremacist, racist & xenophobic rhetoric of the right-wing extremists, who use dangerous imagery to frame the immigration debate."

Erickson says meanwhile in Minnesota the Dakota people control .006% of their original land base, which was stolen via fraudulent treaties, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

It reminds me of a friend's 't'-shirt that shows a Native American on a horse with a caption that reads, "Fighting Terrorism since 1492." continues here

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German constitutional court upholds law banning neo-Nazi march

In a surprise ruling that brings a nearly two-decade long legal battle to a close, Germany's top judges found an "exception" to the right to assembly when it came to some neo-Nazi activities.

Ever since the first anniversary of the death of the Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess in 1988, neo-Nazis have attempted to gather in his Bavarian hometown of Wunsiedel to honor him.

And since 1990, when running street battles between leftists and skinheads erupted at the march, the German state has tried to ban them.

Tuesday's ruling at the constitutional court in Karlsruhe appears to have ended the conflict, with the neo-Nazis coming out on the losing end.

New precedent

The court said that a 2005 "anti-sedition" law banning gatherings which expressed "approval, glorification, or justification" of Adolf Hitler's National Socialist regime was compatible with Germany's constitution.

The ruling is a turnabout from 2001, when the court struck down the ban that had kept the Wunsiedel marchers from rallying since 1991. At that time, the court said that an expression of opinion could be banned only if it amounted to the incitement to riot. Germany's Social Democrat and Green party government then passed the new ban four years later.

Posthumous defeat

The complaint against the law had been brought by Juergen Rieger, an attorney who was deputy chairman of Germany's leading far right party, the National Democratic Party (NPD), which is strongly associated with the neo-Nazi scene.

Rieger had applied each year for a march permit in Wunsiedel, and he had hoped that the high court would strike down the ban as unconstitutional. Rieger did not live to see the ruling - he died on October 29th of this year.

Instead, the court set down a new precedent which enshrines a firm constitutional exception for limiting the expression of opinion which praises "National Socialism's actual, historical period of violent and capricious rule."

Still, the judges said there was little room for the ban to widen. Speech praising National Socialist philosophy in general could not be banned, and the court suggested that such ideas must be met "in free political discourse."

Boosters and critics

While few in Germany ally themselves with neo-Nazi marchers, and counter-demonstrators regularly far outnumber their political opponents, the ruling has drawn a mixed response.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, a member of the center-right Christian Social Union, told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper that the ruling "strengthens my hand in the fight against the NPD and their anti-constitutional goals."

He added that an outright ban on the NPD "remained near the top" of his political agenda.

The left-progressive national paper tageszeitung, meanwhile, led with a commentary from its legal affairs correspondent Christian Rath. He attacked the ruling as having established a two-tiered system of free speech, and compared the "exception" in assembly rights as it applied to the extreme right as akin to controversial restrictions in civil rights imposed on suspected terrorists.

Rath also argued that Germany should not need special bans on Nazi expressions anymore. continues here

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I am not a racist, says Island tattooist

A JERSEY tattooist accused of plotting to spread neo-Nazi propaganda yesterday insisted that he was not racist.

Jon Denny-Mallen (40) told jurors at Southwark Crown Court in London that he did not hold extreme right-wing views.

Mr Denny-Mallen is on trial alongside his old school friend William Browning (39), a self-confessed former member of the racist group Combat 18 and a former Les Quennevais pupil.

Both men are accused of one charge of conspiracy to distribute material with intent to stir up racial hatred between 1 January and 13 July 2006.

Mr Browning, who has addresses in John Silkin Lane, Deptford, and Almorah Crescent, St Helier, and Mr Denny-Mallen, of St Martin, deny the charge. continues here

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Hackers Post Private E-mails of Historian and Accused Holocaust Denier

A group identifying themselves as “anti-fascist hackers” broke into the web site and AOL e-mail account of controversial British historian and accused Holocaust-denier David Irving and obtained his private communications as well as attendee lists for his current U.S. speaking tour.

The hackers posted Irving’s e-mail correspondence online, as well as the user name and password for his web site account and AOL e-mail account, which shared the same password. The hackers also posted the e-mail addresses and other personal information — such as names, phone numbers and shipping and credit card billing addresses — of people who made donations through his web sites, purchased his books or bought tickets for his appearances.

Irving’s username and password for his Authorize.net account, which handles the credit card transactions on his web sit, were also exposed.

The data was posted on the WikiLeaks site Friday evening in advance of Irving’s Saturday speaking engagement at the Catholic Kolping Society of America in New York City. The organization reportedly canceled the event on Friday after someone contacted it.

The organization said its facility had been booked a few days ago by someone using the name “Michael Singer,” who said he wanted to hold a book reading. The organization canceled the engagement after learning that the event was scheduled for Irving.

The location of Irving’s engagements are generally kept secret and announced to attendees only at the last minute to prevent protesters from appearing at the venues or pressuring facilities to cancel Irving’s reservations.

Irving was once a popular historian specializing in World War II but has been a lightning rod for controversy over opinions he’s expressed in the past about the Holocaust and the Nazi regime. Although he asserts he’s not a Holocaust denier, he was convicted in Austria in 2006 of denying the Holocaust and sentenced to three years in prison, and was called a racist and anti-semite by a British judge in a libel case that Irving lost. He has underplayed the extent of the extermination of Jews, saying the number killed was much fewer than 6 million. He also claimed in 1989 that Auschwitz was not an extermination camp — though he has since recanted.

“History is a constantly growing tree - the more you know, the more documents become available, the more you learn, and I have learned a lot since 1989,” the BBC reported him saying.

The Anti-Defamation League considers him one of the world’s most effective purveyors of Holocaust denial and has carefully monitored his activities.

The e-mails published on Friday exposed discussions that occurred between Irving and others about booking his speaking engagements under pseudonyms to thwart protestors.

“The venue is reserved under my name . . . , my phone number and wonderfully
disguised . . . as a book signing, not yours or some group so just in case some nasty is poking around they will come up with nothing,” wrote one supporter in the U.S. who had booked an engagement for Irving in Richmond, Virginia.

They also include notations, such as the word “Achtung,” highlighting reservations that appear to come from Jewish attendees signing up for his events, and discuss tricks played on these attendees, such as giving them a false address for speaking events.

The e-mails include other personal correspondence about the East Coast speaking tour Irving is currently conducting in the U.S., security issues — such as an incident involving weapons that someone brought to one of his recent speaking engagements in Florida — and a tense exchange between Irving and his assistant about his poor treatment of her and her threats to quit.

The data also includes the bank account number of Irving’s landlord in the United Kingdom and instructions to Irving’s bank in Florida to wire money to the account, as well as personal exchanges with supporters.

One supporter writes to Irving: “You should continually blame the Jews who controlled Churchill with causing their own disaster. Also blame the Jews for the loss of your empire and the immigration invasion caused by it. As Reichminister Goebbles, of Blessed Memory, loved to say, ‘The Jews are to blame’.”

Irving’s web site was inaccessible Friday evening and calls to cell phones belonging to Irving and his assistant went unanswered. But Michael Santomauro, whose correspondence with Irving was among those posted online, confirmed that the e-mails were authentic and that Irving had been hacked.

Santomauro identified himself as the “Michael Singer” who had booked Irving’s New York speaking engagement. He told Threat Level that around 7pm Friday evening an e-mail was sent out by the hackers from Irving’s AOL account shortly before Irving was scheduled to give a talk in New Jersey. The e-mail was sent to a list of Irving supporters with the subject line reading: “ADVISORY: Anti-Fascist Hackers Destroy Holocaust Denier David Irving’s Website and Release Private Emails, Attendee Lists.”

The e-mail contained all of the information that was posted on the WikiLeaks web site and indicated that the hackers destroyed all the files, including backup files and databases, on Irving’s web sites irvingbooks.com and fpp.co.uk.

In the e-mail, the hackers wrote: “We did this to expose this Nazi-sympathizer for who he is and to shut down/disrupt any possibility of Irving rearing his fascist head in public during his tour. To David Irving and all aspiring white-power, anti-immigrant, queer-bashing, racist pigs - give it up! We will fight you on the streets and on the internet until you are swept into the dustbin of history.”

Santomauro said there was an inkling that something was wrong about half an hour before the hacker’s email arrived when Irving contacted him to tell him the New York event had been canceled and asked how his detractors could have learned the location. The two had only discussed it among themselves by email and by phone.

“Apparently [the hackers] have been monitoring his AOL for a certain amount of time,” Santomauro said.

He told Threat Level he suspected the Jewish Defense Organization was behind the hack. He says he’s been targeted himself by protestors from this group and others who have harrassed him outside his apartment building and hacked the account for a Yahoo study group he runs.

But, he says, the harassment against Irving is much worse.

“I don’t agree with everything Irving has to say, but he should have the freedom to express whatever views he has,” Santomauro said. “I can agree that he’s not a very pleasant person. But he’s not a Holocaust denier. He could care less about it and is not very knowledgeable about it. . . . He doesn’t talk about it in his speaking tours.”

No one was available to respond to questions left at a phone number posted at the Jewish Defense Organization’s web site.

UPDATE: Irving’s assistant, Jaenelle Antas, forwarded a statement from Irving saying that it would be several days before he could assess the damage, since his web provider had apparently scheduled repairs to begin today and last for seven days, making it difficult for him to access his account. continues here

‘Campaign of racial hate’

TWO Jersey neo-Nazis planned to distribute ‘propaganda of hate’ throughout Britain by selling CDs featuring anti-semitic songs, a court in London heard yesterday.

St Helier-based tattooist Jon Denny-Mallen (40) and William Browning (39), a former Les Quennevais School pupil and former Combat 18 leader who now lives in London, are accused of plotting to smuggle far-right CDs into England through the Island.

On the opening day of their trial, Southwark Crown Court was told that both men were fervent followers of the ‘blood and honour’ international music scene which promoted extreme right-wing views. It is alleged that they conspired to import CDs by Polish racist rockers No Remorse into Jersey.

Mr Browning, who has addresses in Deptford, and Almorah Crescent, St Helier, and Mr Denny-Mallen, of St Martin, both deny one charge of conspiracy to distribute material with intent to stir up racial hatred between 1 January and 13 July 2006. continues here

Germany's far right becomes internet savvy

The number of right-wing extremist websites in Germany is rising, with a group charged with youth protection warning that the internet has become the leading platform for right-wing extremist propaganda.

Germany's right-wing extremist scene is developing a professional, media-savvy internet presence, according to Jugendschutz.de, an internet watch group for German youth.

With 1,707 neo-Nazi websites currently available on the World Wide Web, Stefan what we need is a controversial debate to bring about more democracy on the net. We need the web community to take part in the process to get these websites shut downGlaser, who heads the watchdog, says right-wing groups have quickly learned how to use the internet to their advantage.

"They have websites which are quite modern, which are hip, which are interesting for young people. Videos and music are important factors, and they use all the common web 2.0 platforms: social networks and video platforms to put out their propaganda," he says.

One of the main problems, according to Glaser, is the level of sophistication. Colorful and subtle web portals mean that young people, the target audience, often don't know they are viewing a neo-Nazi site.

Shutting down far right

Glaser's group, an initiative funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (BPB) and active since 2000, works specifically to root out websites deemed to be targeting young people. Most commonly, Jugendschutz.de contacts the web provider, who can pull the offending material. If the internet portal is illegal, the watchdog passes the details on to the police, who can press charges.

Despite small successes, there are still more than 1,500 active, illegal websites and no sign that the right's internet presence is on the decline.

Thomas Krueger, the BPB's head, says more people need to get involved in fighting right-wing extremism online. "I think extremism is part of our open society and we cannot have a society without extremism, but what we need is a controversial debate to bring about more democracy on the net. We need the web community to take part in the process to get these websites shut down," he says.

In some cases internet users have managed to close down sites by bombarding them from other web portals.

Fight continues

Both the BPB and Jugendschutz.de have called for more public education, while they themselves offer workshops to teach young people how to identify right-wing extremist groups.

Jugendschutz.de can claim a measure of success. In 2008, 80 percent of German right-wing extremist online material that was liable under federal law was removed from within Germany and from websites abroad. continues here

Senate votes big expansion of federal hate crimes

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved the most sweeping expansion of federal hate crimes law since Congress responded four decades ago to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The legislation, backed by President Barack Obama, would extend federal protections granted under the 1968 hate crimes law to cover those physically attacked because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

"This bill simply recognizes that there is a difference between assaulting someone to steal his money, or doing so because he is gay, or disabled, or Latino or Muslim," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

Voice vote passage came immediately after supporters cleared a 60-vote procedural hurdle imposed by Republicans trying to block consideration of the legislation. That vote was 63-28.

The hate crimes bill was offered as an amendment to a must-pass defense spending bill that the Senate is expected to finish some time next week. Several Republican amendments to the hate crimes legislation still could be considered on Monday, but Thursday's vote determined that it will be part of the defense bill when it passes.

The 1968 hate crimes act covers violence related to a person's race, color, religion or national origin. Federal involvement is confined to a narrow range of circumstances, such as when the victim is using a public facility or attending a public school, serving on a jury or participating in a government program.

The proposed legislation, in addition to expanding the categories covered, ends the "federally protected activities" requirement.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., now being treated for cancer and unable to be on hand for the debate, first proposed the bill in 1997. While coming close on several occasions, he has never been able to overcome opposition from those who contend it infringes on states' rights and First Amendment rights to free speech. Former President George W. Bush said he would veto the bill if it reached his desk.

This time, however, pro-bill Democrats control both houses of Congress and Obama is a strong supporter. Attorney General Eric Holder has urged Congress to give his department authority to prosecute cases of violence based on sexual orientation, gender or disability.

The measure still has a way to go. Obama has told Congress he will veto the defense bill if it includes more money for an F-22 fighter program he is trying to terminate. The House in April passed a similar hate crimes bill, but did it as independent legislation not tied to a larger bill.

The Senate bill, also sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., only authorizes federal prosecutions of hate crimes when the state or local authorities are unwilling or unable to do so. It provides $5 million in grants to state and local law enforcement officials who have trouble meeting the costs of investigating and prosecuting these crimes.

Reid, D-Nev., recalled that Laramie, Wyo., was overwhelmed by the costs of pursuing the case against Matthew Shepard, the gay college student killed in 1998 whose name is attached to the bill. "When this bill becomes law, that will never happen again in Laramie, Wyo., or anyplace else in the country."

Supporters also emphasized that prosecutions under the bill can occur only when bodily injury is involved, and no minister or protester could be targeted for expressing opposition to homosexuality, even if their statements are followed by another person committing a violent action.

To emphasize the point, the Senate passed provisions restating that the bill does not prohibit constitutionally protected speech and that free speech is guaranteed unless it is intended to plan or prepare for an act of violence.

The Traditional Values Coalition had expressed concern in a letter to senators that a pastor could be prosecuted for "conspiracy to commit a hate crime" if a sermon resulted in a person acting aggressively against someone based on sexual orientation.

Another opponent, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said it was "patently offensive" that violence against one class of victims would be considered worse than violence against others. "We cannot have a colorblind society if we continue to write color-conscious laws," he said. "It violates all the principles of equal justice under the law." continues here

Lawsuit: Cops' Web site is racist

The slogan for the popular Philadelphia police Web site domelights.com says it's "the voice of the good guys."

But some of those guys use the site as a mouthpiece for racist drivel, according to the Guardian Civic League, an organization of black Philadelphia cops that filed a federal lawsuit yesterday seeking to shut down the site and punish its users. "Guns Don't Kill People. Dangerous Minorities Do,"

"If you're a police officer, a sworn officer of the law, and you think that way toward people of color, you shouldn't be here," said Rochelle Bilal, head of the league, which joined the NAACP and other groups in the lawsuit.

In the two years her organization has been monitoring various discussion boards on the site, Bilal said she's come across hundreds of disparaging remarks about blacks made by her fellow officers.

One such statement, "Guns Don't Kill People. Dangerous Minorities Do," was posted last year, and a recent post referred to Northeast Philadelphia campers who were turned away from a Huntingdon Valley swim club as "monkeys."

According to the suit, many of the posts are made throughout the day, by on- and off-duty white officers using city computers.

"We are tired of them," Bilal said.

The city, Police Department and a slew of unidentified site users were also named as defendants.

The privately registered Web site, which has nearly 6,000 users and is not sanctioned by the city or the Police Department, has created a hostile environment for some black officers in the workplace, said Brian Mildenberg, the lawyer who filed the suit.

"[The site founder] creates this thing and it starts to go viral with white racists over the years," he said. "This is really sad."

The site, which was created in 2000, is "devoted to the abolition of political correctness through intelligent discussion and debate," according to a description listed on a domain registration site.

The lawsuit repeatedly refers to the site's founder and administrator, who uses the screen name "McQ." He is believed to be Fred McQuiggan, a Philadelphia police sergeant.

McQuiggan, 47, of Torresdale, joined the force in March 1986.

The lawsuit does not identify McQuiggan, and a person who answered a phone call from the Daily News to a number listed in that name said it was the wrong number.

Mildenberg said that responsibility for the site's content goes beyond its administrator and falls on the Police Department, which failed to act.

"They've received many complaints from the Guardian Civic League and other black groups and individuals," he said. "They have not changed the situation. This cannot go down in a police department."

Asked about the lawsuit yesterday, Commissioner Charles Ramsey said he wasn't familiar with it.

"I've never visited the site personally so I don't know what their issue is," he said on his way into a meeting at City Hall with other department officials.

He added that he had heard of the site. Asked what he had heard about it, he said: "I prefer to stick to the more traditional media outlets for my information." continues here

Race-hate Britons return to UK for sentencing

Two Britons who fled to the United States after they were accused of waging a campaign of hate against Jews and other minority groups appeared in front of a British court today after they were returned to the UK.

Simon Sheppard, 52, and Stephen Whittle, 42, were convicted of a number of race-hate crimes at Leeds Crown Court following two lengthy trials, the last of which finished in January.

By then the pair had skipped bail and fled to California.

The men sought asylum under the US's free speech protections, claiming they were being persecuted for their right-wing views.

They were taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport when they asked a uniformed US official for help.

But, following a year in the US, an immigration judge ordered that the men be deported.

Sheppard and Whittle arrived at Heathrow Airport yesterday and appeared at Leeds Crown Court this afternoon.

In a brief hearing, they were remanded in custody and told they will be sentenced on July 10.

Whittle smirked as his barrister, Adrian Davies, told Judge Rodney Grant there would be no application for bail.

The investigation into the men began when a complaint about a leaflet called 'Tales of the Holohoax' was reported to the police in 2004 after it was pushed through the door of a Synagogue in Blackpool.

It was traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard.Police later found a website featuring racially inflammatory material.

Prosecutors said one of the leaflets officers found suggested Auschwitz was in fact a holiday camp provided by the Nazi regime and to which Jews from all over Europe came to enjoy a free holiday.

The pair were charged with publishing racially inflammatory material; distributing racially inflammatory material, and possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution.

Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, and Whittle, of Avenham Lane, Preston, denied the charges.

In July last year Sheppard was found guilty of 11 offences and Whittle was found guilty of five.

The jury was unable to agree a verdict on a further seven charges against Sheppard and it was decided to have a retrial on six of these charges.

The retrial began in December 2008 and concluded in January.

Today, Mr Davies told the court Whittle had effectively come back to the UK voluntarily as the United States authorities had given him the opportunity to be deported to New Zealand. He said he also holds a New Zealand passport.

Judge Grant told the pair: 'These are serious matters and you must understand that prison is in the forefront of my mind.'continues here