Ernst Zündel Held in Batavia, New York, Detention Center

This morning Ernst Zündel was removed from a Tennessee jail — where he had been held since his arrest on February 5 at his home outside Sevierville — and taken to Atlanta, and from there to upstate New York. Today at 6:00 p.m., Eastern time, he phoned Mark Weber at the IHR office from an US immigration detention center in Batavia, New York, not far from the Canadian border, to report on the situation.

US authorities have issued an order barring him from the United States for twenty years, Ernst said. It is likely, he added, that he will soon be deported to Canada, where he lived for 42 years as a permanent resident. He then could be held in prison for having violated a “Human Rights Tribunal” ruling that declared unlawful the “Zundelsite” web site, which his wife, Ingrid Rimland, has run from the United States.

Ernst is in good spirits, eagerly discussing measures to be taken to deal with this new challenge. He said that he has no money with him — “not a red cent” — because he took along no money or credit cards when he was arrested on the 5th.

Ernst and Ingrid are relieved that he was not deported to Germany, the land of his birth and citizenship, where he faces years of imprisonment for violating the country’s “Holocaust denial” law.

The arrest and deportation of Ernst is an outrage, especially considering that he is married to a naturalized US citizen, and has never been convicted of any crime in the United States or Canada. As anyone who knows him well can testify, he takes great care to obey the law and abide by legal regulations.

It appears that US authorities singled him out for deportation, using the pretext of supposedly violating a procedural regulation — while ignoring millions who have been living in the United States unlawfully for years.

For more about Ernst Zündel, his arrest, deportation and background, see the “Zundelsite,” and the IHR web site, especially “Authorities Prepare To Deport Ernst Zündel.”