Denmark’s highest court has begun hearings in the appeal case of the Fighters+Lovers group, which is charged with providing financial support for two armed terrorist organisations – the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).

If found guilty, group members face up to 10 years in pridson.

Defence rejects claims
While the prosecution maintains that the two organisations are terrorist organisations, the defence says that human rights organisations do not see the two as such.

“Neither Human Rights Watch nor Amnesty label the two as terrorist organisations but blame both parties in the conflicts,” says Defence Attorney Throkild Høyer.

The defence also claims that civilian deaths attributed to the organisations are not part of a conscious strategy.

T-shirts
At the centre of the case is the sale by the organisation of T-shirts with PFLP and FARC logos at DKK 170 each, DKK 37 of which was sent on to the two movements.

In 2007, the lower courts found Fighters+Lovers not guilty as magistrates did not find reason to label PFLP or FARC as terrorist organizations.

The decision was appealed to the High Court which sentenced two of the Fighters+Lovers group to six months in prison, while the rest of the group was either found not guilty or given a suspended sentence of 2 to 4 months.

The group was given leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The PFLP and FARC are listed as a terrorist organization by the EU, Canada and the United States.