No historian should be jailed for quoting facts that he has got wrong. If propaganda is printed during wartime it is not for the erring historian to be prosecuted but for the writers of propaganda to issue the real facts. Sixteen years later Mr Irving finds that his facts were not accurate; what was available to him 16 years ago was not accurate information. If we were all prosecuted for things we said 16 years ago, a lot more of us would be in prison and not free citizens. Barbara O'Sullivan, Merthyr Tydfil
The severity of the sentence and its attendant publicity gives me the impression that Irving may be onto something. Those gleeful over Irving's imprisonment may come to regret the curiosity generated. Name and address withheld
David Irving isn't actually preaching hate or inciting violence. And, unlike Iran's leaders, he isn't underpinning Holocaust denial with a WMD programme. Instead, he's a failed historian with a mistaken, and utterly distasteful perspective on history. He is a crank. There are a lot of cranks, most of them are ignored. Fight Irving and his like with the truth. Putting him in jail won't win the argument. Rather, it gives him unwarranted publicity, perhaps even credibility. It's also an affront to freedom of expression. Jailing people just because we don't like what they say sounds like national socialism. Nick Zhang, Beijing
Why does Austria have a law on denial of the Holocaust? A supposedly democratic, civilised and well-educated country should not have a law dictating what its citizens, and indeed visitors to the country, should think and say. David Irving is, in my opinion, foolish, as an academic, to deny the Holocaust took place, but that does not mean he should be jailed for a few ill-considered words. Given the precedent set by the Austrian courts, I now wait with eager anticipation for Austria to arrest President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran should he ever decide to take a skiing holiday in Tirol. Neil Collins, Zurich
A lot of comments are being made about the similar circumstances of this case and the offensive Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, but I see no connection between the two whatsoever. The fact of the matter is that whether we agree with it or not, in Austria there is a law against the denial of the Holocaust, Irving broke it (in Austria) and so he should be punished accordingly. I wasn't aware of any laws in Europe that made the publication of cartoons depicting religious figures illegal. Perhaps there should be, but as it stands, there aren't. It seems that me must be reminded of the difference between something that is illegal and something that is offensive and politically very incorrect. Ola Marki, Paris
Freedom of speech leads to freedom of information. Had there been this freedom in Germany in the 1930s, the Holocaust could have been avoided. By sentencing David Irving, the Austrians are acting in the same way as those who caused the deaths of more than 40 people for the sake of a few cartoons. Vinay Mehra, Purley, Surrey
I believe that David Irving exercised his right to free speech and gleaned his facts from World War II propaganda, thus erring in his judgment pertaining to the material he had written or verbally delivered in public. He should be released immediately from prison in Austria. Barbara O'Sullivan, Merthyr Tydfil
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has identified more than 40 Nazi Holocaust perpetrators living in Austria. The Justice Ministry has declined to progress their cases - the last war crimes trial was in 1975. How can a man be given three years in prison for lies about the Holocaust when Austria grants de facto immunity to those who carried out the Holocaust? Ken Cameron, Vienna
What will self-appointed guardians of truth conjure up next in their jihad against error? Outlaw denial of the Ukranian Holocaust of the 1930s? Suppress evidence of genocidal actions of Iroquois? Erase Hispanic names of those who defended the Alamo? Ban anti-Bush cartoons? Prevent attacks on ideas of the Ku Klux Klan for fear of hurting feelings? Jail people who deny the Trinity? Who authorised these guardians of truth to act on anyone's behalf? No one. They have formed posses of vigilantes to cleanse pernicious error from the marketplace of ideas. The result? The marketplace of ideas is still under attack. The best solution to bad ideas is not suppression; it is the creation of better ideas. James Davis, Illinois
I salute the Austrian court's sentence of a thinly veiled anti-Semite. There is a nice irony that a court in Hitler's birthplace has taken clear action against a notorious Holocaust denier. Three years in jail should give Mr Irving plenty of time to think about and consider the millions of innocent Jewish lives whose cold-blooded murder he has sought to deny. Geoff Dennis, Edgware
I think Irving's case demonstrates the limits of Western democratic society and provides convincing arguments to its very opponents. Freedom of expression is in a deep crisis in the heart of Europe - the very champion of democratic values. How different are we from the fundamentalists? Flag-burning, street-rioting, slogan-chanting and fists pointing upwards are all scenes we have seen in Europe, and can anybody guarantee their abeyance? Is human life secure in Europe? If I deny the existence of Jesus Christ nobody censors me. But if I deny the Holocaust I am imprisoned. Senseless laws should be abrogated and forgotten. Pierre Gerada, Saarburg, Germany
I feel that far too often some in the media, and in certain EU nations, along with certain US media and powerbrokers tend to be hypocritical on the issue of free speech. Recently, as we're all aware, there has been controversy over the publication of the Muhammad cartoons and in particular, the image showing Muhammad with a bomb on his head. Why is it all right for people to insult Muslims, by insinuating that they are all terrorists, and, by implication, deliberately provoking those people who would seek to take advantage of the anger caused, when a man who has not been responsible for a wave of protests and deaths around the world faces three years in prison? John Pointon, St Helens
