Multisectoral group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) today called the decision of the European Court of First Instance (ECFI) removing Prof. Jose Ma. Sison from the European Union’s (EU) so-called terrorist blacklist a sweet victory for all freedom-loving peoples.
Bayan chairperson Dr. Carol Araullo said that the favorable decision affirmed the assertion of Sison and his supporters that he has not committed any criminal or terrorist acts and that all cases filed against him in European courts are political persecution.
“As a genuine freedom fighter, the attacks on his political and civil liberties are also attacks on the people that he has been fighting for. This latest legal victory of Prof. Sison must be celebrated by all freedom-loving peoples,” said Araullo.
The ECFI decision’s immediate effect is to unfreeze Sison’s small personal account that been misrepresented by the Philippine and Dutch government’s as a conduit for international support to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) that he had founded.
Araullo described the decision as a “sweet victory for Sison and his family the world-wide network that championed his rights against the persecutory terrorist listing by the EU, the governments of the US, the Netherlands and other countries, and all who fight for national freedom and social liberation who have been unjustly and maliciously labeled as ‘terrorist’”.
The Bayan leader noted that prior to the ECFI decision, Sison was also cleared last March 31, 2009 by the Dutch prosecution service of the false charges of inciting the killing of former CPP-NPA leaders Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara in the Philippines in 2003 and 2004 due to lack of evidence. The said decision upheld earlier verdicts of Dutch judicial authorities including the district court of The Hague, appellate court, and examining judge.
Araullo said that while the efforts of Sison’s brilliant legal counsels must be acknowledged, it is important to recognize as well the unwavering support and solidarity that Sison gets not only from Filipino activists but from groups and individuals in the Netherlands and other countries who value human rights. “By this victory, Prof. Sison and his lawyers and supporters have shown how it is possible to turn the tables on the seemingly formidable political clout and legal machinery of the EU and The Netherlands, with the instigation and backing of the US”, said Araullo.
But the Bayan leader warned that despite this legal victory, people must be constantly reminded that those who want to persecute Prof. Sison and other activists fighting and working for genuine change will not stop.
“Our best hope still lies in direct and concerted actions to defend the human rights of Sison and other persecuted activists who are maliciously and unjustly branded as terrorists by the powers-that-be”, Araullo said. #
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