Joma Sison off EU terror list—lawyer

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Exiled Filipino communist leader Jose Maria Sison has been taken out of the terror list of the European Union, INQUIRER.net learned Wednesday.

Sison’s “inclusion in the EU terror list is cancelled,” said his lawyer Jan Sermon in a long-distance phone interview.

This after a top European court ruled Wednesday that the European Union had based its move on legal procedures in the Netherlands — where Sison has lived since 1987 — assessing his eligibility for refugee status, instead of basing it on a “terror” probe.

“The national decisions relied upon by the (EU) in order to freeze the applicant’s funds did not relate either to the instigation of investigations or prosecution or to a conviction for terrorist activity, contrary to the requirements of (EU) law,” the Luxembourg-based Court of First Instance said.

Sermon said the court also annulled an EU decision to freeze the assets of Sison for alleged “terrorist activity.”

Sison, 70, is the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and its armed wing the New People’s Army (NPA), which have been waging a Maoist rebellion in the Philippines since 1969.

He has been living in exile in the Netherlands, and in 2007 was arrested and accused by the Dutch authorities of ordering the killings of two former NPA commanders over ideological differences.

Asked how much his assets are worth, Sison said, “Maliit lang naman yun (It’s not much), but the main thing is the social benefit that was taken from me since August 2002. That would be substantial.”

Peace talks between the Philippines and the CPP-NPA have been suspended since 2003, shortly after the European Union placed the group as well as Sison’s name on its list of foreign terrorists.

Sison’s assets were frozen and the Dutch authorities have also frozen his pension. Philippine authorities said the move had also resulted in a freeze on foreign funding to the rebel movement.

While the Dutch government has rejected his bid for asylum, it has not returned Sison to the Philippines due to threats to his life.

Sermon said that with the ruling “the unjust labeling stops, and he can start traveling.”

Sison told INQUIRER.net that he might travel to the United States, which has also tagged him as a terrorist, and perhaps go on a lecture tour there.

If the US continues to tag him as terrorist, Sison said he “can sue for slander. Maghahabol ako doon (I can run after them there). I will consult with my American lawyers.”

Asked about the CCP and the NPA, which are also on the EU and US terror lists, Sison’s lawyer Sermon said these groups did not go to court. “Only Joma Sison applied,” he said. –with a report from Agence France-Presse from Brussels, Veronica Uy, INQUIRER.net