Un-listing Hamas as ‘Terrorist’ Organization: European Court between Politics and Justice

Authors

  • Author

  • Adeeb Ziadeh جامعة إكستر- المملكة المتحدة

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12816/0011494

Keywords:

European Court, Hamas, Legal Battle, Tamil Tigers, Terrorist Group

Abstract

The European General Court (EGC) decision on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam case cast a shadow so long that it has influenced the Court’s more recent decision to delist Hamas as a terrorist organization. This paper goes back to examine how Hamas movement was initially listed as a terrorist organization, and why this move failed to bring down the party. It then examines Hamas’ appeal to the EGC, the group’s use of soft power to wage political battle with Europe, and the nature of the Court’s decision, as well as the ongoing politicization of the Court as part of a larger move to shift how courts interact with groups like Palestine’s Islamic movement. Based on the EU’s appeal against the Court’s initial decision, the paper discusses EU options in case its motion is denied.

Author Biography

  • Adeeb Ziadeh, جامعة إكستر- المملكة المتحدة
    أكاديمي فلسطيني متخصص في السياسة الخارجية الأوروبية تجاه الشرق الأوسط/ جامعة إكستر- المملكة المتحدة.

References

  1. European Commission, “Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union concerning listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organization,” (Presse 163, 31 May 2006) at: http://bit.ly/1vmIymO
  2. EU General Court, Judgment of the General Court (Sixth Chamber, Extended Composition), Luxemburg, October 16, 2014, at: http://bit. ly/1vGkota
  3. General Court of the EU Ruling on EU measures against the LTTE, Press Release, Colombo, October 21, 2014, at: http://bit.ly/1FBMHcL
  4. Colombopage, “Sri Lanka to contest the European Court decision lifting sanctions on LTTE,” 19/10/2014, at: http://bit.ly/1E3z6tt; “Ranil requests EU to appeal against Court ruling,” Daily Mirror , 11/11/2014 at: http://bit.ly/1CYjdaB
  5. “ Council of the European Union appeals the Judgment of the General Court,” Press Release: Colombo, December 2, 2014, at: http://bit.ly/1Dkf1R7
  6. Barak Ravid, “EU court orders Hamas removed from terror list” Haaretz , December 17, 2014, at: http://bit.ly/1DIGhcK
  7. Barak Ravid, “EU envoys vow to keep Hamas on terrorist list,” Haaretz , December 18, 2014, at: http://bit.ly/1vGkGjQ
  8. EEAS, “Statement by the Spokesperson on the judgment of the General Court of the EU on Hamas,” Brussels, December 18, 2014, at: http://bit. ly/1zOdhP7
  9. “ Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) responds to EU Court Judgment on Hamas,” Press release, December 17, 2014, at: http://bit. ly/1zyz9fr
  10. Herb Keinon, “Netanyahu: We expect the EU to put Hamas back on the terror blacklist immediately,” The Jerusalem Post , December 17, 2014, at: http://bit.ly/1IZJ2L3
  11. U.S Department of State, “State Department Daily Press Briefing,” Press release, December 17, 2014, at: http://1.usa.gov/1vGkroT
  12. “ Canada Urges EU to Place Hamas Back on Terror Blacklist,” December 18, 2014, at:, http://bit.ly/1zxxWlA
  13. World Jewish Congress, “WJC urges EU to act swiftly after court strikes Hamas off list of terrorist organizations,” December 2014, at: http:// bit.ly/1vmISSE
  14. Shlomy Eldar, “Hamas scores diplomatic victory in Europe,” Al- monitor , December 19, 2014, at: http://bit.ly/17l1RaV
  15. UN Security Council Resolution No. 1368, adopted on 12/9/2001 http://1.usa.gov/17l1UUh
  16. The Council of the European Union, Council Common Position on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism (2001/931/CFSP), December 27, 2001, at: http://bit.ly/1CkaeLz
  17. EU, “European Security Strategy,” in European Council (ed.), (Brussels, December 12, 2003), at: http://bit.ly/1CikGWx
  18. Alastair Crooke, “Permanent Temporariness,” London Review of Books , 33/5 (March 3, 2011), pp. 22-24,at: http://bit.ly/1KMxrwr
  19. Maurice R Greenberg et al., “Update on the Global Campaign against Terrorist Financing: Second Report of an Independent Task Force on Terrorist Financing,” (DTIC Document, 2004), p. 2, at: http://on.cfr.org/1ynFIhE
  20. The Council of the European Union, “Fight against terrorism updating of the list of terrorist organizations,” Presse 264, September 15, 2003, at: http://bit.ly/1KMxx7d
  21. “ Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets in the UK,” 2014, at: http://bit.ly/16WEqU8
  22. “ Press Release 2706th Council Meeting General Affairs and External Relations,” January 2006, at: http://bit.ly/1E3zFna
  23. General Court of the European Union, “The Court annuls, on procedural grounds, the Council measures maintaining Hamas on the European list of terrorist organizations” (Press Release No 178/14, Luxembourg, December 17, 2014), at: http://bit.ly/1DLkAdS
  24. Translated by the author of this article, see Curia. Action brought on September 12, 2010, Hamas v Council (Case T-400/10) at: http://bit. ly/1CikKFB
  25. General Court of the European Union, The Court annuls.
  26. “ Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) responds to EU Court Judgment on Hamas.”
  27. Court of Justice of the European Union. Europa 2014, at: http://bit. ly/1CikNl1
  28. “ Statement by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini on the decision to appeal the Judgment regarding Hamas (19 Jan 2015),” at: http://bit.ly/16WEDa7
  29. Council of the EU, “Draft Rules of Procedure of the General Court of the European Union,” consolidated version (Ch.7:105), December 2014, p. 5, at: http://bit.ly/1uIlyUc
  30. Maya Lester, “EU to Approve New Court Rules to Permit Secret Hearings,” (January 22, 2015), at: http://bit.ly/1CYk37j
  31. Council of Europe, European Convention on Human Rights (Art.6, 1950), at: http://bit.ly/1foTq0D
  32. House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee, “Twenty-ninth Report of Session,” 2014–2015, p. 63, at, http://bit.ly/1DIGb4I
  33. B'Tselem, “Administrative Detention,” 2015 at: http://bit.ly/1vGkEsc
  34. American Civil Liberties Union, “ACLU Seeks Release of Palestinian Immigrant Held for Over Two Years on Secret Evidence,” at: http://bit. ly/1E3zXdR
  35. “ Council Common Position on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism.”
  36. مثال على ذلك، وزير خارجية بريطانيا الأسبق جاك سترو حين أعرب عن ذلك في معرض أجابته عن أسئلة الجمهور في أعقاب محاضرة نظمتها له الجمعية البريطانية لدراسات الشرق الأوسط BRISMES في الكلية الملكية بلندن بتاريخ.2014/10/30
1Total citations
1From ACRPS journals
0External sources

Citing articles in ACRPS journals (1)

  1. (2015) حماس واعتماد قانون "الأدلة السرية" في المحاكم الأوروبية: عبث "عالمثالثي" بالعدالة. Siyasat Arabiya https://doi.org/10.12816/0015871

Sources: Crossref Cited-by, and the references (notes and reference lists) of the Center's own articles

Downloads

PDF (Hosted in Arabic)
HTML (Arabic)

Published

2015-03-01

Usage statistics

36 views 37 downloads

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 013 (2015): Issue 013

Section

Studies and Analytical Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2015 Adeeb Ziadeh (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.