Sison says US working for his extradition to American territory

SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga — The United States government is determined to get National Democratic Front (NDF) chief political consultant Jose Ma. Sison extradited to a US territory, or so Sison claimed.

Sison said a "squeeze play" is in motion to force his extradition to a US territory. To date, Sison has been labeled a "terrorist" by the US, his joint bank account with his wife, Juliet de Lima, has been frozen by Dutch authorities and the "allowance for food and other basic necessities, housing and health insurance" and other benefits accorded to political refugees in the Netherlands have been cut.

"The objective of the scheme is to compel me, as NDF chief political consultant, and the NDF negotiating panel to opt for capitulation in the peace negotiations or suffer the worst of punitive measures," Sison said in a statement circulated in a peace rally here yesterday.

According to Sison, a "high official of the Manila government" told him "the US would take a series of steps up to the point of extraditing me from the Netherlands."

Sison has been living in the Netherlands for the past 14 years as a political refugee who is barred from seeking employment, but was entitled to Dutch government welfare benefits.

Sison identified the other steps that he believes will be taken against him as a "publicized raid on our apartment and possible arrest to degrade me before the Dutch public, terrorist listing at the European level, provisional detention upon request of the US government and extradition to a US territory."

Chief government peace negotiator Silvestre Bello III told The STAR the Dutch government has a policy of extraditing people to countries acceptable to the person subjected to extradition.

"If there are countries that might accept Sison, only North Korea or Vietnam comes to my mind. I don’t think China would accept him, since China has become quite capitalist," Bello said. "What we do not know is whether Sison would agree to being sent to either North Korea or Vietnam."

The US, Sison said, "is working to overcome the protection that I get from the Refugee Convention and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms by giving assurances to the Dutch government that the death sentence shall not be made and, if made, shall not be carried out.

Sison said he is being "criminalized as a terrorist without benefit of due process... demonized as a terrorist under my full name in official publications and I am deprived of the basic necessities of life in violation of the most basic human right of life.

Meanwhile, Sison’s financial straits have made retaining lawyers to extend his stay in the Netherlands difficult.

"(Sison) has friends, supporters and relatives who can help (sustain the daily needs of his family," NDF peace panel working committee member Rafael Baylosis said.

"But his major need is (funding) for legal defense to fight for his right as a political refugee," Baylosis said, adding that Sison needs a "considerable" amount of money to pay the fees of his Dutch, American and Filipino lawyers.

Baylosis also revealed that "a move by various political refugee groups in the Netherlands, the US and countries in Europe to fight for the rights of (Sison) and other political refugees in Europe is now gaining momentum. Because of this, the Dutch and US governments are finding more difficulties in persecuting (Sison)."