20 November 2006
A UK Muslim leader has admitted helping fund the notorious Holocaust denier David Irving. On Sunday, the British newspaper "The Observer" revealed that Asghar Bukhari, a founding member of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, pledged money to Irving's legal fund in 2000. Bukhari also said in a letter at the time that he would encourage Islamic groups to support Irving and his efforts to "expose certain falsehoods perpetrated by the Jews." Bukhari confirmed the story but said he was motivated by anti-Israel sentiments rather than anti-Semitism. He also said he opposed Holocaust denial, though he thought it was wrong of an Austrian court to jail Irving earlier this year for his assertions that the scale and planning of the Nazi genocide has been exaggerated.
