A Delicious Irony: The [London] Times Oped on Irving's Arrest

The Times [London] has an oped piece on Irving's arrest. It is rooted in a free speech argument. There is however an intrguing observation which sheds light on a central irony in this whole matter.
The Times [London]

January 20, 2006

We can't deny the deniers
Ben Macintyre

[...]

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre estimates that some 40 Nazi suspects are still living in Austria, and accuses Austria of a lamentable record in apprehending war criminals.Irving is in prison for writing about the Holocaust, in a country where people who took part in the Holocaust are still at liberty.

Irving would be able to argue that the people who operated the gas chambers should be prosecuted before people who make speeches about them, except that he is on record as saying that the gas chambers never existed. Ironies don’t come much more savoury than that.