NEWS RELEASE
14 September 2007

Reference: Joan May Salvador, GABRIELA Spokesperson (3712302)


Dutch court's decision validates as political harassment murder case
vs Sison– GABRIELA

" The court's decision to release Sison from jail validates the fact
that these hastily manufactured murder cases are nothing but political
harassment. Despite all the political leverage that the Dutch
government has over Sison, their court could not find any evidence
that would back up the accusations hurled against him."

This was the statement of the women's group GABRIELA as it welcomed
the District Court of the Hague's order to release Filipino political
exile Jose Maria Sison after spending more than two weeks in detention.

"This whole case against Sison is a farce that has come to its
rightful end. With the order to release him, Sison and his supporters
in the Philippines and abroad are vindicated in insisting that the
persecution of Sison, his family and his Filipino associates in the
Netherlands is unjust and a gross violation of their right to express
political dissent,"GABRIELA spokesperson Joan May Salvador stated.

Salvador also lashed at the Philippine government for its role in the
filing of cases against Sison. According to her, Sison's arrest and
the filing of murder cases against him was conducted by the Dutch
government with the full backing of the Arroyo government and prompted
by the US government, which Sison had been vigorously criticizing for
its human rights abuses.

"Sison's release strikes strong against the Philippine government's
fetish for criminalizing political dissent. Mrs. Arroyo may have
succeeded in exporting fabricated murder cases, which she has been
serving to Filipinos in the Philippines who openly criticize the
unjustness and fascism of her regime. Yet she will always find it
nearly impossible to pursue this kind of political persecution because
she would then have to contend with every freedom loving peoples all
over the world," Salvador concluded. ###