A Chara, - The article by Alan Shatter on David Irving's imprisonment (March 1st) completely misses the point: it's not about Saudi Arabia's lack of respect for freedom of expression, but about how Europe, and Austria in particular, respect freedom of speech.
The fact is that Irving's imprisonment on "Holocaust denial" charges leaves Europe with no moral authority at all to criticise the lack of freedom in other regimes.
If we grant freedom of speech only to those ideas we like, we render the concept absolutely irrelevant. - Is mise,
JOSE ANTONIO GUTIERREZ DANTON, Clontarf Road, Dublin 3.