NewsThe European Union's top court took a step on Thursday towards confirming the removal of Hamas and the Tamil Tigers from an EU terrorism blacklist, despite protestations from Israel and the Sri Lankan government, Reuters reported. The Sri Lankan government had said in 2014 that it would provide the evidence which the court found lacking to support sanctions against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Both organisations argued that they were engaged in legal wars against Israel and the Sri Lankan government respectively. The General Court did not address whether the groups' actions merited inclusion on the list of terrorist organisations but ruled the procedures by which they had been put there were flawed. The EU Council's appeal also cited the lower court's failure to accept its argument that the groups' presence on the U.S. terrorism list justified sanctions.

Source: Sunday Times September 22, 2016 14:37 UTC