DHAKA: The Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas must be removed from the EU’s terrorism blacklist, but its assets will stay frozen for the time being.

A European court ruled on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.

The original listing in 2001 was based not on sound legal judgements but on conclusions derived from the media and the internet, the General Court of the European Union said in a statement.

But it stressed that Wednesday’s decision to remove Hamas was based on technical grounds and does ‘not imply any substantive assessment of the question of the classification of Hamas as a terrorist group’.

The freeze on Hamas’s funds will also temporarily remain in place for three months pending any appeal by the EU, the Luxembourg-based court said.

Hamas, which has been in power in the Palestinian territory of Gaza since 2007, had appealed against its inclusion on the blacklist on several grounds.

BDST: 1630 HRS, DEC 17, 2014