Jail term for Holocaust denial 'going too far', says PM

Helen Clark (left) and David Irving.

The sentencing of British historian David Irving for denying the Holocaust showed how seriously Austria regarded that time in its history, but most people would have thought a jail term was going too far, Prime Minister Helen Clark said today.

Irving was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday by an Austrian court which convicted him of denying the Holocaust -- a crime in Austria.

Irving had pleaded guilty and insisted he had had a change of heart, now acknowledging the Nazis' World War 2 slaughter of six million Jews.

Before the verdict, Irving conceded he had erred in contending there were no gas chambers at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

He had faced up to 10 years behind bars.

The Prime Minister today said the verdict showed how seriously the Holocaust was taken in Austrian law.

"Austria has a tragic past in terms of the fact that that country was tied up with Nazism in the 1930s and '40s.

"I think most people would feel that being jailed for the offence was probably going too far but nonetheless it does underline how seriously Austria deals with that part of its history."

Irving ran up against New Zealand's immigration law when he tried to come here in 2004.

He was barred from boarding a flight from Los Angeles to Auckland after a passenger processing system alerted the airline Irving was not welcome in New Zealand.

He was not automatically entitled to a visa because he had been deported from Canada some years earlier.

Irving then lodged an application at the New Zealand High Commission in London for a special permit to enter the country but that was also refused.

Questioned today about Irving's sentencing being another example of the free speech argument that has reared its head in the Prophet Muhammad and Bloody Mary cartoon controversies, Helen Clark said that was a question for each country and its laws to judge.

New Zealand permitted freedom of speech.

Mr Irving was not able to come here because he was struck out under immigration law.

"But nonetheless he did go to Austria, he presumably knew what the law was and he's run up against that country's laws."

- NZPA