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The Justice
for Joma Committee – Canada
holds
pickets in Ottawa and Toronto
September 26, 2007 -- The Justice for Joma Committee – Canada held picket
lines in front of the Embassy of The Netherlands in Ottawa and their
consulate in Toronto today to protest attempts by Dutch authorities to put
Prof. Jose Maria Sison back in jail.
The protest actions were held in Canada and elsewhere to expose a decision
by Dutch prosecutors to appeal a recent decision to release Prof. Sison
from a Dutch prison and attempt to put him back behind bars.
Prof. Sison, a vocal critic of the Philippine government and their backers
in Washington who has lived as a political refugee in the Netherlands for
the past 20 years, was arrested by Dutch police on trumped up murder
charges on August 28, 2007. Following world wide protests a Dutch court
(District Court in The Hague) ordered him released on September 13, 2007
because of lack of evidence directly linking him to the crime of
incitement to murder in the Philippines.
In Ottawa, a former political prisoner from Iran told an Embassy official
that he was very concerned about the attempts to re-arrest Prof. Joma
Sison.
“As a political refugee here in Canada I am very worried that if the Dutch
government manages once again to criminalize the political work of Prof.
Sison, perhaps the same tricks will be used against refugees like me in
other countries,” he said. “I thought Holland was a safe country for
political refugees, so I am surprised to see you copying the American
model of criminalizing political struggle and arresting and mistreating
people who fight for justice.”
“As someone who spent three years imprisoned and tortured for my political
beliefs, I feel very strongly about this case and would be ready to give
up my place here in Canada for Prof. Sison if you refuse to allow him to
live safely and peacefully in the Netherlands!”
Michael Pestman, the Dutch lawyer for Prof. Sison, has reported that “no
new evidence was presented” during the hearing on the appeal of Dutch
prosecutors to try to reverse the earlier decision of the Dutch court
releasing Sison.
According to reports, the court will will release its decision on the
Dutch prosecutor’s appeal on October 3, 2007 (see below). The Justice for
Joma Committee – Canada and other organizations have every intention of
keeping up the pressure until all charges are dropped against Prof. Sison.
Centre
d'appui aux Philippines / Centre for Philippine Concerns
25 ans de
solidarité / 25 years of solidarity
Montréal, Québec, Canada
mailtto:capcpc@web.ca
http://cap-cpc.blogspot.com/
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