EU COURT REMOVES HAMAS FROM BLACKLIST

Luxemburg, 24 Safar 1436/17 December 2014 (MINA) – A European court ruled Wednesday that Hamas must to be removed from the EU’s terrorism blacklist.

“The 2001 listing of Hamas was based not on sound legal judgements but on factual imputations derived from the press and the Internet,” the General Court of the European Union said in a statement as quoted by Maan and Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

The freeze on Hamas’ funds will also temporarily remain in place for three months pending any appeal by the EU, the Luxembourg-based court said.

Hamas’ military wing was added to the European Union’s first-ever terrorism blacklist drawn up in December 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The EU blacklisted the political wing of Hamas in 2003.

Instead, such an action had to be based on facts previously established by competent authorities. it said.

The lawyer for Hamas, Liliane Glock, told AFP she was “satisfied with the decision.”

Senior official Mousa Abu Marzouq said the decision was a “triumph” for all supporters of the Palestinian people’s right to resistance and liberation from “colonialism.”

Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq lauded the decision, saying the court had righted an injustice done to the organization, which he said is a “national freedom movement,” and not a terrorist organization, the Jerusalem Post reports.

But a deputy from Israel’s major right-wing Likud party, Danny Danon, said, “The Europeans must believe that there blood is more sacred than the blood of the Jews which they see as unimportant. That is the only way to explain the EU court’s decision to remove Hamas from the terror blacklist.” (T/R04/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)