14 February 2020|The Interregnum|Mohamed Elmaazi
The British state is now wielding terrorism charges against family members of YPG volunteers even though it is not a banned organisation. Activists say this reflects a wider policy of “use and abuse” of terrorism legislation designed to clamp down on social activism and solidarity work which would otherwise be perfectly legal.
Featured image via Mark Campbell
UPDATE: The headline and article were amended at 15:15, on 15 February 2020, to reflect the fact that Samuel Newey was not asked to enter a plea during his appearance at Westminster Magistrate’s Court on 14 February 2020.
The father and brother of Daniel Newey, a volunteer with the Kurdish-led Peoples Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, face terrorism related offences in connection to their support for him.
Paul Newey, 49, and Samuel Newey, 19, both appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court (WMC) on 15 February. Paul Newey confirmed his details and pled “not guilty” to charges under the Terrorism Act 2000 for supporting his son Daniel with £150. Samuel was not asked to enter a plea at the hearing.
YPG international volunteer Dan Newey's family has likened the family's experience at the hands of West Midlands Police as being like scenes from 'Midnight Express' which is ironic as the UK govt are working on behalf of the Turkish regime. #TwitterKurds pic.twitter.com/zV8V5awaWa
— @Hevallo (@Hevallo) February 14, 2020
The YPG and allied forces lost an estimated 11,000 people in the war against Daesh (ISIS, IS, Islamic State) in northeastern Syria. The militia has been backed by the US and UK and received support from the British SAS special forces unit during this fight. But since the decline of Daesh the UK government has been placing increasing pressure on YPG volunteers and those seeking to provide solidarity with the libertarian socialist experiment in northeast Syria (aka Rojava).
Around 15 supporters attended the hearing at WMC including Nik Matheou of the Kurdish Solidarity Campaign.
“[W]hat these cases really represent is an expansion of the British state’s long-held desire to criminalise all activity associated with the Kurdish freedom movement”, Matheou said.
He placed the prosecutions into context saying that:
“First the Kurdish community faced this in 2001 with the listing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) [as a terrorist group under the UK Terrorism Act 2000], then with the revolution in Rojava in North East Syria and people going over to support this incredible feminist, ecological and democratic project by defending it, volunteering with the YPG. They’ve been facing increased criminalisation since coming back.”
It remains unclear what if any acts of ‘terrorism’ are being alleged since Daniel Newey has been working with the YPG inside Syria and the YPG are not banned as a terrorist organisation in the UK.
This is the first known use of UK terrorism laws against family members of international volunteers with the Syrian-Kurdish militia.
Matheou, an activist and political organiser, says that it isn’t only Kurdish solidarity activists who are being targeted but also a, “wide-range of activists [who are] active in struggles ranging from environmentalism to anti-arms trade campaigns to much more besides”.
“[W]hat this all really shows us is that terrorism laws isn’t about the acts that we all know should fall into that category – the really violent acts that are designed to make us all terrified and to divide us and to bring about more destruction in our communities – they’re not designed to do this. They’re designed to create a category of exception where the state can push certain things beyond what’s acceptable beyond what you’re allowed to associate yourself with [despite these things not normally being considered criminal acts].”
Paul Newey is charged with knowing or having “reasonable cause to suspect” that a total of £150 which he allegedly sent to his son Daniel, while he was in transit in Spain on the way to re-join the YPG in Syria, “would or may be used for the purposes of terrorism” in violation of S17 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Samuel Newey is charged with violating S 5(1)(b) of the Terrorism Act 2006, by assisting or intending to assist his brother Daniel Newey to:
“commit, prepare or instigate an act of terrorism, engaged in conduct in preparation for giving effect to his intention”
Paul Newey, who is recovering from having his oesophagus removed and requires daily medical medication, was awoken by a counter-terror police raid at his home in December 2019. The raid was one week after Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called upon the UK to drop its support for the YPG during the NATO summit held in London. Britain is a major trading partner with the fellow NATO member and has sold hundreds of millions of pounds worth of military hardware and services to Turkey, which has NATO’s second largest standing military, after the US.
David Burke, another former YPG volunteer, was also charged with terrorism offences in December 2019, also in connection to support he allegedly provided to Daniel Newey to help him get to Syria. The CPS will be joining the cases of Burke, Paul and Samuel to be heard in Liverpool Crown Court.
The Turkish state has been at war with the YPG and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since it first invaded Afrin, northeast Syria, in 2018. Rights organisations and the Syrian Democratic Forces have accused Turkey of gross human rights violations including ethnically cleansing the areas it occupies by replacing the majority Syrian-Kurdish populations with Syrian Arab and other ethnic groups from other parts of Syria. There have also been extensive documented links between Turkey and the Salafi-Islamist militia which grew from Syria into Iraq. Turkey’s former counter-terror chief, who now resides in the US, alleged in September 2016, that he was part of high level Turkish state support for Daesh, up to and including protecting its members in Turkey.
Exclusive: Whistleblower exposes how NATO’s leading ally is arming and funding ISIS https://t.co/pj8XvHSNy9 by me @insurgeintel
— Dr Nafeez Ahmed (@NafeezAhmed) September 22, 2016
In October 2019 the Rojava Information Center published a database of over 40 members of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army who used to hold positions within Daesh.
[EXCLUSIVE]
Rojava Information Center today publishes a database over over 40 former ISIS members now known to be fighting in Afrin and North West Syria, under Turkish command as part of Turkish-backed forces.
— Rojava Information Center (@RojavaIC) August 8, 2019
The Turkish state calls the YPG a terrorist group because of its alleged links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey. The PKK, via its military wing, has been part of a decades long armed conflict with the Turkish state, originally as part of a movement to create a separate Kurdish nation but their demands evolved to a call for regional autonomy and direct-democracy in southeastern Turkey since around 2000. The YPG and SDF are guided by the same philosophy as the PKK.
The author has volunteered with the Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and other Kurdish solidarity groups.
A shorter version of this article first appeared in Sputnik International