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Dutch Government Liable for Violating Sison’s Rights as
Legitimate Political Refugee in The Netherlands
International Association of Peoples’ Lawyers
6 September 2007
The International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) believes
that the Dutch government can be held liable for violating the rights
of Prof. Jose Maria Sison, the founding chair of the Communist Party
of the Philippines (CPP), if there were truth to reports that the chief
political consultant of the Peace Negotiating Panel of the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is being subjected to
maltreatment and other forms of extreme psychological pressures by
Dutch authorities when he was arrested recently and detained up to
now.
The Dutch government can be held liable for violating the rights
of Prof. Sison as a political refugee under the Refugee Convention
and the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as for violating
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Minimum
Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and other related instruments
and conventions.
It should also be put to task for violating the rights of the other
members of the NDFP Panel and their staff when the Dutch police
ransacked their offices and houses, confiscated through a fishing
expedition everything that are not even remotely related to the
charge against Sison, interrogated them under hostile and dubious
circumstances indicating legal shortcuts characteristic of repressive
measures under the so-called war on terror.
We received reports that Prof. Sison was denied his prescription
medicines to his cell and contacts from immediate families, supporters
and access to any media. He was virtually incommunicado except for
the very restricted contact with only one of his lawyers. This kind
of solitary confinement is tantamount to extreme torture and all-out
violations of Sison’s rights.
Our information is that Prof. Sison was declared a political refugee
by the Council of State, the highest administrative court in The
Netherlands in 1992. It had criticized the Dutch Ministry of Justice
for using secret intelligence dossiers against Sison. In 1995, The
Council of State reaffirmed the decision that he is a political
refugee under Article 1-A of the Refugee Convention and that he is
under the protection of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human
Rights after having found out that there was no sufficient evidence
against Sison for crimes that would exclude him therefor.
We also note that the Court of First Instance of the European Court
of Justice on July 11, 2007 annulled the decision of the Council of
European Union placing Prof. Sison on the terrorist list and freezing
his financial assets. The Court pointed out the violation of his basic
rights by the Dutch and EU authorities.
We remain concerned that the rights of the likes of Sison, other
Filipino patriots and those from other countries seeking political
refuge are being continuously violated in furtherance of an increasingly
repressive and intolerant Dutch government towards asylum seekers,
refugees and even migrants from all over the world which runs counter
to the admired liberalism and humanitarian spirit of the Dutch people.
Based on the actuations, public statements and unusual interest of
the US and Philippine governments on the case, it is very clear that
the legal action being taken against Prof. Sison is not a simple
criminal procedure as the political arms of Dutch government wishes
the public to believe. There are very obvious political motives
behind it.
We are worried that the Dutch authorities, in open cahoots with the
Philippine government, and as applauded by the US government, would
ignore the valid defenses of Prof. Sison, disregard the Philippine
Supreme Court ruling effectively dismissing the present charges
against Sison and other critics of the Arroyo administration and
irrevocably jeopardize any prospects for meaningful negotiations
for a just and lasting peace.
The European Union is legally, politically and morally obliged to
admonish the Dutch government for violating the human rights of
Prof. Sison and other Filipino patriots and for violating international
human rights laws and other European protocols and conventions
governing the rights and protection of political refugees.
We shall continue to closely monitor the case against Prof. Sison
in the Netherlands, support and assist in the appropriate way the
legal moves in defense and assertion of his rights, and campaign
and coordinate with Philippine and international lawyers’ groups
all over the world to expose and oppose what from all indications
is essentially a political persecution. #
6 September 2007.
Reference:
Edre U. Olalia, President 63-9279519347
The IAPL is an anti-imperialist organization of human rights
lawyers, law students and legal workers from various countries
especially where imperialist exploitation are most severe, human
rights violations are most widespread and the peoples’ struggles
are most intense.
It has members coming from Afghanistan, Brazil, Belgium, India,
Nepal, Philippines, the Netherlands, and Turkey and has observers
or has established solidarity linkages with lawyers from Argentina,
Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Japan, Germany,
Greece, Mexico, South Korea, North Korea, Spain, United Kingdom and
The United States.
IAPL Board of Governors:
Pellisery Sebastian, Chairperson (India)
Edre U. Olalia, President (Philippines)
Julio Moreira, Vice President (Brazil)
Rafael Jespers, Secretary General (Belgium)
Dundar Gurses, Treasurer (Netherlands)
Hakan Karakus, Auditor (Turkey)
Rateb Faquiri, Member (Afghanistan)
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