[JURIST] The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly [official website] Monday criticized procedures used by the UN Security Council and the European Union for blacklisting individuals and organizations on its terror list, adopting a draft report [text; press release] by parliamentarian Dick Marty [personal website; JURIST news archive] that characterized the procedures as "totally arbitrary" and lacking in credibility. Marty's report said that the lists violate basic human rights by not informing individuals or groups when they've been added to the blacklist or giving them an opportunity to respond to the allegations.

In July, the European Court of First Instance overturned [judgment; JURIST report] the EU's decision [Council Decision 2006/379/EC text, PDF] to freeze the assets of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) chairman Jose Maria Sison [MIPT profile] and the Hamas-affiliated al-Aqsa Foundation [judgment], finding that the Council did not give its reasons or provide an opportunity for the plaintiffs to challenge the legal basis or evidence to justify the seizure. In December 2006, the European Court of First Instance annulled the asset freeze [JURIST report] of Iranian opposition government People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) [organization website, in Farsi]. The judgment prompted the Council of the European Union to revise [press release, PDF; JURIST report] the procedures used in establishing and maintaining the EU's terror lists. EUobserver has more.