Cops probe ad celebrating Nazi-hunter's death - journalism.co.za - the resource for journalists

The Namibian police have launched an investigation into the case of a coastal weekly that last month printed a controversial advert that had strong racial connotations Acting in an apparent response to a story in the Monday edition of this newspaper, two officers from the police's Crime Investigation Unit visited New Era premises October 19. The New Era article alleged double standards by the administrators of justice in dealing with promoters of hate speech, citing the discrepancies in the case of the Swakopmund-based publisher and that of Methuzal Matundu, who was arrested on accusations of carrying a placard with the message "Kill All Whites" during a recent demonstration by the OvaHerero for reparations from Germany. The police officers wanted information on the name of the paper which carried the widely condemned ad, the date of publication of the ad, as well as the name of the publisher of the newspaper. "We have to investigate the person (the publisher of the advert) to see what's going on," one of the officers who visited New Era said, before referring this reporter to his immediate superior. (...) The controversial advert in the Swakopmund-based weekly celebrated the death of Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor acclaimed worldwide for dedicating his life to the pursuit of Nazi war criminals. The advert was widely condemned as anti-Semitic.