* Thomas Ayres is the Senior Managing Editor of the Boston College International & Comparative Law Review.
1 See For Whom the Liberty Bell Tolls—Civil Liberties Since September 11th, The Economist, Aug. 31, 2002, at 5 [hereinafter Civil Liberties].
2 Tim Golden, Buoyed by World’s Focus on Terror, Spain Cracks Down, N.Y. Times, Aug. 29, 2002, at A8.
3 ETA is the Basque acronym for “Basque Homeland and Liberty.” Id. The group’s aim is the full independence of four northern Spanish provinces, three of them entirely Basque (Alava, Guipuzcua, and Vizcaya) and one only partially Basque (Navarra). Antonio Vercher, Terrorism in Europe 168 (1992).
4 Civil Liberties, supra note 1. Batasuna has changed its name in the past few years from “Herri Batasuna” to “Euskal Herritarrok” and then to “Batasuna” to avoid bans. Emma Daly, Judge Bans Basque Party, Linking It to Terrorists, N.Y. Times, Aug. 27, 2002, at A4.
5 Basque Party to Fight Ban, BBC News, Aug. 28, 2002, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/ low/europe/2220931.stm.
6 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Nov. 4, 1950, art. 11, 213 U.N.T.S. 221, 232 [hereinafter Convention]. The Convention, as well as cases and materials of the ECHR and now-defunct European Commission on Human Rights (Commission), are available at http://www.echr.coe.int.
7 Golden, supra note 2.
8 Id.; see Victor Perez-Diaz, Spain at the Crossroads 159 (1999).
9 Golden, supra note 2.
10 Id. ETA’s victims have been primarily political opponents and members of the armed forces and police. See id.
11 Id.
12 Id. ETA unilaterally declared a truce in September 1998, which it broke fifteen months later. Perez-Diaz, supra note 8, at 170–72; Golden, supra note 2.
13 See Batasuna Banned, The Economist, Aug. 31, 2002, at 13.
14 Daniel Trotta, Spain Formally Asks Court to Ban Basque Party, Reuters, Sept. 3, 2002. In August 2002, the Spanish Justice Minister presented 23 charges—displayed in 26 boxes containing 1000 pieces of evidence—linking Batasuna with ETA and singling out 194 of the party’s political leaders who belong to ETA. Id.
15 Id. Batasuna received only 10% of popular vote in 2001 regional elections (its worst showing ever), down from 18% in 1998. Id.; see Batasuna Banned, supra note 13.
16 Golden, supra note 2.
17 Id.
18 Council Regulation 2580/01 of 28 December 2001 on Specific Restrictive Measures Directed Against Persons and Entities with a View to Combating Terrorism, art. 2(3), 2001 O.J. (L 344) 2, available at http://europa.eu.int; Justice and Home Affairs: EU Approves List of Terrorist Groups, Eur. Rep., Jan. 5, 2002; EU Blacklists Basque Party, BBC News, June 5, 2003, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2965260.stm.
19 Ley Org�nica de Partidos Pol�ticos [Organic Law of Political Parties], (L.O.P.P. 2002, 12756), art. 9 (Spain), http://www. elpais.es [hereinafter Law of Political Parties].
20 Id. art. 9(2). Prohibited activities include:
promoting, justifying or excusing assaults against the life or the integrity of persons . . . inciting, bringing about or legitimizing violence as a means for the achievement of political objectives . . . politically complementing and helping the action of terrorist organizations for the achievement of their ends of subverting constitutional order or gravely altering public peace . . . giving express or tacit political support, legitimizing terrorist actions or excusing and minimizing their significance.
Id. art. 9(2)(a)–(c), (3)(a).
21 Id. art. 9(3).
22 Law of Political Parties, supra note 19, art. 11(1) (government must petition special session of Supreme Court); id. art. 10(5) (dissolution of political party reserved for special session of Supreme Court); Trotta, supra note 14.
23 Law of Political Parties, supra note 19, art. 11(7); Batasuna Banned Permanently, BBC News, Mar. 17, 2003, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2857437.stm. On the same day as the parliamentary vote, Public Prosecutor Baltasar Garzon announced a three-year suspension of Batasuna, which immediately banned public rallies and demonstrations, closed offices, excluded party representatives from the following year’s elections, seized assets, and froze bank accounts (approximately $23 million). Daly, supra note 4.
24 Constitutional Court Affirms that Batasuna Defends ‘Ideologies Associated with Terrorism,’ EL PAIS, Jan. 20, 2004, http://www.elpais.es.
25 Spain Maintains Basque Party Ban, BBC News, Jan. 26, 2004, at http://news.bbc. co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3405211.stm.
26 Vercher, supra note 3, at 342–43; The Power of Shame, The Economist, Dec. 5, 1998, at 5.
27 Convention, supra note 6, arts. 32, 35. Spain ratified the Convention on Oct. 4, 1979. Dates of Ratifications, at http://www.echr.coe.int/Eng/EDocs/DatesOfRatifications.html (n.d.).
28 Convention, supra note 6, art. 11(1).
29 D.J. Harris et al., Law of the European Convention on Human Rights 421 (1995).
30 Id. at 417.
31 Convention, supra note 6, art. 11(2).
32 Harris, supra note 29, at 424.
33 United Communist Party v. Turkey, App. No. 19392/92, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. 121, 146 (1998) (Eur. Ct. H.R.).
34 Id.
35 Id.
36 Harris, supra note 29, at 417, 421.
37 United Communist Party, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 132 (citing German Communist Party v. Germany, App. No. 250/57, 1957 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on H.R. 222 (Eur. Comm’n on H.R.)).
38 United Communist Party, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 145.
39 Id. at 146–47; see Convention, supra note 6, art. 11(2).
40 Sunday Times v. United Kingdom, 2 Eur. H.R. Rep. 245, 271 (1980) (Eur. Ct. H.R.).
41 Purcell v. Ireland, App. No. 15404/89, 1991 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on H.R. 90, 99 (Eur. Comm’n on H.R).
42 United Communist Party, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 146; see Convention, supra note 6, art. 11(2).
43 United Communist Party, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 146.
44 See id. at 147.
45 Id. Article 10(1) provides that the right to freedom of expression “shall include freedom to hold opinions and receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers” Convention, supra note 6, art. 10(1).
46 United Communist Party, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 147 (citing Young, James & Webster v. United Kingdom, 4 Eur. H.R. Rep. 38, 55 (1982); Vogt v. Germany, 21 Eur. H.R. Rep. 205, 240. (1996)).
47 United Communist Party, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 147–48.
48 Id.
49 Id.
50 Sunday Times v. United Kingdom, 2 Eur. H.R. Rep. 245, 275 (1980) (Eur. Ct. H.R.) (citing Handyside v. United Kingdom, 1 Eur. H.R. Rep. 737, 754 (1979) (Eur. Ct. H.R.)).
51 United Communist Party, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 149.
52 Id.
53 Id.
54 Gregory H. Fox & Georg Nolte, Intolerant Democracies, 36 Harv. Int’l L.J. 1, 48 (1995).
55 Sunday Times, 2 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 276. But see X v. United Kingdom, App. No. 3898/68, 1970 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on H.R. 666, 684 (allowing considerable measure of discretion to domestic authorities where aim is prevention of disorder and crime).
56 Refah Partisi (Welfare Party) v. Turkey, App. Nos. 41340, 42–44/98, 35 Eur. H.R. Rep. 3, 91 (2002) (Eur. Ct. H.R.).
57 Id.
58 Id.
59 Id. at 78–79.
60 Id.
61 United Communist Party v. Turkey, App. No. 19392/92, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. 121, 125–27 (1998) (Eur. Ct. H.R.).
62 Id. at 154.
63 Id.
64 Id.
65 Welfare Party, 35 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 91. In its primary meaning, jihad is defined as “a holy war and the battle which has to be fought until the total domination of society by the Muslim religion is achieved.” Id. at 88.
66 Id. at 85–86; see Convention, supra note 6, art. 14 (prohibiting discrimination).
67 Welfare Party, 35 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 88–89. The dissenters felt that there was no “compelling or convincing evidence . . . that the party . . . took any steps to reali[z]e political aims, . . . to destroy or undermine secular society, to engage in or encourage acts of violence or religious hatred, or otherwise to pose a threat to legal and democratic order.” Id. at 105.
68 Id. at 89.
69 Id. at 91.
70 Id.
71 Welfare Party, 35 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 91.
72 Yazar, Karatas, Askoy & People’s Labour Party v. Turkey, App. Nos. 22723–25/93, 36 Eur. H.R. Rep. 6, 76 (2003) (Eur. Ct. H.R.).
73 Id.
74 Id.
75 Id. at 75.
76 Castells v. Spain, App. No. 11798/85, 14 Eur. H.R. Rep. 445, 477 (1992) (Eur. Ct. H.R.) (upholding Basque parliament member’s published criticism of Spain’s antiterrorist campaign).
77 People’s Labour Party, 36 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 77.
78 Id.
79 See United Communist Party v. Turkey, App. No. 19392/92, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. 121, 146 (1998)(Eur. Ct. H.R.).
80 See id.
81 See id. at 146–49.
82 Id.
83 See generally Sentence of the Supreme Court Banning Batasuna, El Pais, http://www. elpais.es (n.d.) (cataloguing Batasuna’s alleged violations of the Law of Political Parties).
84 Id.
85 See Anthony Lester, Freedom of Expression, in The European System for the Protection of Human Rights 473 (R.St.J. Macdonald et al. eds., 1993).
86 Purcell, 1991 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on H.R. at 101. Before 1999, the Commission determined the preliminary question of admissibility and drew up a report for the ECHR establishing the facts and expressing an opinion on the merits of the case; the Commission was subsequently collapsed into the ECHR. Convention, supra note 6, Protocol No. 11 (entered into force Nov. 1, 1998).
87 Purcell, 1991 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on H.R. at 102.
88 See id.
89 See Welfare Party v. Turkey, App. Nos. 41340, 42–44/98, 35 Eur. H.R. Rep. 3, 91 (2002) (Eur. Ct. H.R.).
90 See Basic Principles for Democracy in the Basque Country (2.1), Ideological Bases, at http://www.batasuna.org/batasuna/g_index.htm (last modified June 23, 2001).
91 See United Communist Party v. Turkey, App. No. 19392/92, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. 121, 154 (1998)(Eur. Ct. H.R.).
92 See generally Purcell, 1991 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on H.R. 90.
93 See Welfare Party, 35 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 88–89.
94 See Purcell, 1991 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on H.R. at 100.
95 See Goodwin v. United Kingdom, App. No. 17488/90, 22 Eur. H.R. Rep. 123, 146 (1996) (Eur. Ct. H.R.) (compelling journalist to reveal source is a breach of negative right).
96 See id.
97 See Yazar, Karatas, Askoy & People’s Labour Party v. Turkey, App. Nos. 22723–25/93, 36 Eur. H.R. Rep. 6, 77 (2003) (Eur. Ct. H.R.); United Communist Party v. Turkey, App. No. 19392/92, 26 Eur. H.R. Rep. 121, 154 (1998)(Eur. Ct. H.R.).
98 See id.
99 See Welfare Party v. Turkey, App. Nos. 41340, 42–44/98, 35 Eur. H.R. Rep. 3, 89 (2002) (Eur. Ct. H.R.).
100 See id.; Purcell v. Ireland, App. No. 15404/89, 1991 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on H.R. 90, 100. (Eur. Comm’n on H.R).
101 See Welfare Party, 35 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 89.
102 Id. at 91.
103 Id.
104 See Law of Political Parties, supra note 19, art. 12.
105 See id.
106 See Welfare Party, 35 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 91.
107 See id.
108 Batasuna Banned, supra note 13.
109 Europe Wary of Banning Parties, BBC News, Aug. 28, 2002 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/ 2/low/europe/2217919.stm [hereinafter Europe Wary].
110 See Yazar, Karatas, Askoy & People’s Labour Party v. Turkey, App. Nos. 22723–25/93, 36 Eur. H.R. Rep. 6, 75 (Eur. Ct. H.R.); Europe Wary, supra note 109.
111 Purcell, 1991 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on H.R. at 100.
112 See id.; Europe Wary, supra note 109.
113 Welfare Party, 35 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 91.
114 See id.
115 Golden, supra note 2.
116 Welfare Party, 35 Eur. H.R. Rep. at 91.
117 See id.