Posted Friday, April 30, 2004

Judge set to testify in Zündel trial

By Kirk Makin
Toronto Globe and Mail

A SENIOR Ontario judge intends to testify on behalf of Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel at a court challenge to Mr. Zündel's deportation as a national security risk.It is very rare for a judge to take the stand in a court case.

Judge Lauren Marshall is expected to describe the extraordinary lengths federal immigration officials went to in 1985 to deport Mr. Zündel to Germany.

Her testimony could bolster Mr. Zündel's contention that officials have repeatedly tried to ship him out of the country not because he is dangerous, but because he espouses highly unpopular views.

A Toronto lawyer in the 1980s, Judge Marshall represented Mr. Zündel in his initial deportation battle.

"We argue that this is less about security and more about Mr. Zündel being an unpopular person," defence counsel Peter Lind say said in an interview. "This is the latest in a number of efforts to get him deported. Why does he get this special treatment? What I do know is that he has very powerful enemies."

Judge Marshall -- a regional senior judge of the Ontario Court of Justice -- has been known throughout her career as a fearless individual who speaks her mind. She will appear at Mr. Lindsay's request.

Mr. Lindsay told Federal Court Judge Pierre Blais during yesterday's proceeding that she will likely give her testimony next Tuesday.

Mr. Zündel is seeking to strike down a controversial anti-terrorism measure known as a security certificate, used to deport non-citizens who may pose a security risk. A security certificate is signed by two federal cabinet ministers who, based on secret intelligence, decide that an immigrant should be deported as a danger to Canadians.

Even alleged spies and terrorists normally targeted this way are not permitted access to the precise allegations against them.

Mr. Lindsay said he could not comment on yesterday's development other than to note that Judge Blais has already heard evidence involving the extraordinary haste Employment and Immigration Canada used in an attempt to deport Mr. Zündel in 1985.

At the time, Mr. Zündel had just been convicted for spreading false news likely to create social or racial unrest in connection with a Holocaust denial pamphlet entitled "Did Six Million Really Die?" He was sentenced to 15 months in jail.

Any landed immigrant sentenced to more than six months for a criminal offence can be deported. The day after Mr. Zündel's sentencing, immigration authorities commenced deportation proceedings. However, their attempt failed after the false-news law was declared unconstitutional and Mr. Zündel's conviction was overturned.

"There has been evidence that Immigration had already opened a file on Mr. Zündel before he was even sentenced," Mr. Lindsay said. "Justice Marshall, as Zündel's lawyer, complained at the time about the 'undue haste' with which authorities acted in the Zündel case.

"One has to wonder how the speed with which they acted in the Zündel case compares with other immigration cases that do not involve people who are as infamous or unpopular as Mr. Zündel.

"Immigration will start proceedings against people with criminal records maybe a couple of years later -- if they notice them at all," Mr. Lindsay said. "Think of people who have committed dozens and dozens of crimes -- and contrast that with Zündel, who doesn't have a record for anything at all."

Globe & Mail: Ernst Zündel, civil-rights champion?  [see also: Editorial]

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Arrest of Ernst Zündel by US: Is held in Jail

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Feb 2001: Ernst Zuendel has emigrated from Canada to the United States