UPDATED ON:
Thursday, September 18, 2008
18:25 Mecca time, 15:25 GMT
 
News Europe
Danish T-shirt 'terror' convictions

The PFLP is classified as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union

A Danish appeals court has convicted six people who sold T-shirts bearing the logos of Colombian and Palestinian resistance groups of supporting banned "terrorist" organisations.

About 300 T-shirts were sold for $33 each, with 75 cents from each sale going towards a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) radio station and a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) graphics studio.

The six were connected to the Danish activist group Fighters and Lovers, which sold shirts printed with Farc and PFLP logos.

Thursday's verdict overturned a lower court ruling last December acquitting all seven after finding that the two organisations were "not really terrorist" groups.

The appeals court disagreed, ruling that the Farc and the PFLP are "terrorist organisations that have committed acts aimed at destabilising a state or a government and have attacked civilian targets".

The court ordered the confiscation of the approximately $4,850 the company had made on the sales.

Both the Farc and PFLP are classified as terrorist organisations by the United States and the European Union.

Two of the defendants were sentenced to six months in prison, while four others were sentenced to shorter, suspended prison terms, the Eastern high court in Copenhagen said in a statement.

A seventh defendant was acquitted.

The maximum prison sentence for the charges under Danish law is ten years.

Thorkild Hoeyer, the group's lawyer, said that they would appeal against the verdict to Denmark's highest court.

'Legitimate' movements

During the trial, Fighters and Lovers said the Farc and the PFLP were legitimate liberation movements and likened their support of the groups to supporting the African National Congress in South Africa in the 1980s.

According to legislation adopted in Denmark following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, any direct or indirect financing of "terrorist" organisations is punishable by up to ten years in prison.

The verdict last December had marked the first time that a Danish court had ruled on how to consider Danish citizens' support for groups that figure on the EU designated terrorist group list.

The defendants said on Thursday that they had been expecting a new acquittal and were surprised and disappointed by the verdict.

"The Danish judicial system reveals today that it stands on the side of the occupying power Israel and of a Colombia that kills its people and tortures prisoners," Michael Schoelardt, the head of Fighters and Lovers, said.

"We must continue our fight for peace and justice in the world and develop our solidarity work... despite this (Danish judicial) system that wants to criminalise it."

Hoeyer said he he was willing to take the case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.

 Source: Agencies
Feedback Number of comments : 3
 
davik
Portugal
19/09/2008
FARC and PFLP shared 102 (euros?)
FARC and PFLP (supporters) got 70 cents out of 33 euros a shirt. If they made a total of 4850 euros, then the terrorists profited 51 euros each. I won't even mention the hypocrisy in permitting freedom of expression in the case of the Mohamed caricatures (which I support) while criminalizing this case. If they were convicted for "sponsoring terrorism", isn't this heavy handed? Six months in prison for 102 euros?

ed
United States
20/09/2008
Danish "terror" convictions
We should all be appalled any time that a government tells its citizens how to think. In a supposed democracy the people are not allowed to decide for themselves who are terrorists? These laws are extremely dangerous and must be repealed.

Nick
United States
20/09/2008
Freedom of Expression vs. Global Security
How do you draw the line between these subjects? All persons SHOULD be able to express themselves freely, however supporting known terrorists organizations is illegal and rightfully so. Personally I think the actions taken were justified and send a clear message that support of terrorists is NOT going to be tolerated. The Danish law appears to be very straight forward the it was broken. How did they expect the courts to react?

 
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