Court bans Haider's defamation

Haider: Gagged by the court

VIENNA, Austria -- Far-right politician Joerg Haider has been banned from repeating defamatory comments about a prominent Austrian Jew.

The leader of Vienna's Jewish community, Ariel Muzicant, had sued Haider after comments made at a February meeting of Haider's Freedom Party.

The ruling orders Haider, former leader of the Freedom Party and now governor of Carinthia province, to stop spreading the "defamatory, untrue, credit-damaging assertion" or similar statements, pending a final decision on whether his comments were anti-Semitic.

The comment was a pun on Muzicant's first name, which is also the name of a detergent.

Muzicant said on Friday that the ruling represented the first legal victory against Haider in 12 separate suits he has filed against him, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Muzicant told reporters his lawyers had convened a 10-member panel of experts to examine Haider's comments referring to him and others.

The findings would be used to back assertions that Haider was guilty of anti-Semitism, slander and related charges.

There was no immediate comment from Haider, who can appeal against the court decision.

The participation of the Freedom Party in the government coalition led to European Union sanctions against Austria more than a year ago, based both on the party's vehemently anti-foreigner stance and on past Haider remarks.

The sanctions were lifted in September.