We, the International DEFEND Committee, hereby criticize and condemn the
judgment by the European Court of Justice dismissing the appeal of Prof.
Jose Maria Sison for access to the secret documents used by the Council
of the European Union in putting him in the so-called terrorist list and
imposing on him punitive sanctions.
The judgment is reminiscent of the medieval inquisition and fascist times.
It upholds the refusal of the Council of European Union to show the
documents used against Prof. Sison and to identify the particular states
accusing him of terrorism. Thus, his rights to the presumption of innocence,
to due process and to defense continue to be violated, as earlier pointed
by the European Office of Amnesty International.
The unjust and draconian rationalization used by the Council to prevent
him from scrutinizing and contesting the so-called sensitive documents
is that the access of Prof. Sison to these would "prejudice the operational
fight against terrorism and undermine public interests in the protection
of public security and international relations". In fact, the Council
has failed to cite a single incident or evidence of terrorism against him.
The heinous crime of terrorism is falsely imputed to Prof. Sison without
any proof. And yet punitive measures are imposed on him. These are
deceptively called temporary restrictive measures but they have already
run for more than four years since October 28, 2002 and include preventing
him from taking employment and legal residence and depriving him of the
bare social benefits for living allowance, health insurance and housing.
The issue of access to the particular documents used against Prof. Sison
is subsidiary to the main issue of "terrorist" listing, which is expected
to be decided soon by the European Court of First Instance. The judgment
already made by the European Court of Justice on the subsidiary issue is
likely to prejudice the anticipated decision of the European Court of
First Instance on the main issue whose hearings were concluded last May
30, 2006.
However, whatever is the outcome of the litigation on the main issue of
"terrorist" listing, Prof. Sison will continue to be protected by the
European Convention on Human Rights, especially by its Article 3 which
prohibits his forcible transfer to any country where he is at risk of
torture, degrading or inhuman treatment or punishment.
Even then, Prof. Sison has been subjected to persecution and inhuman
and degrading treatment for so long. He has long been recognized as
a political refugee by the Office of the UN High Commission on Refugees
and by the Dutch courts, but on the basis of secret intelligence
dossiers he has been denied legal residence and admittance as refugee.
Since 2002, he has been blacklisted as a "terrorist" and made to suffer
punitive sanctions on the basis of the false charge of terrorism. This
is in line with the Bush policy of promoting state repression and
carrying out wars of aggression in the name of a permanent and preemptive
"global war on terror". Also in this connection, the legal infrastructure
for fascism has been laid in Europe and other parts of the world. ###
Contact: Ruth de Leon,
International Coordinator
International DEFEND Committee
Tel. 00-31-30-8895306
Email:
[email protected]