- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Keerthi Mohan
International volunteers have slammed home secretary Sajid Javid’s plans to prosecute British citizens who remain in Syria.
Last week, Javid urged British citizens in northern Syria to leave within 28 days or face a 10-year-prison sentence if they attempt to return to their homeland.
Now, more than 40 international volunteers, a majority of them British, have signed a letter raising concerns about Javid criminalising those who stayed back in Syria.
“Using a law supposedly created to defend against Isis, you are criminalising as ‘terrorists’ those who’ve given more than any other British citizens in this struggle. Just two months ago, the whole world celebrated Isis’s defeat as a military force. That victory was led by the women of YPJ, along with the other Kurds, Arabs and Christians of north-east Syria – the democratic, women-led, autonomous region more commonly known as Rojava,” states the letter, reported the Guardian.
The letter is also signed by Dirk and Sofia Campbell, the father and sister of Anna, who was volunterring with Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) – the all-female affiliate army of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) – in Syria when she was killed by a Turkish missile last year.
The letter adds: “You have never honoured the bravery and sacrifice of volunteers in Rojava – you even refused to help bring back Anna Campbell’s body from Afrin.”
“You [Javid] have decided that simply travelling to or remaining in Rojava should be considered a terrorist act – even though the UK is part of the International Coalition against Isis, which relied on Rojava throughout its campaign,” added the letter.
Others who have signed the letter include Macer Gifford, who fought Daesh with YPG, Steve Kerr, a former British soldier and criminal defence lawyer Raj Chada.
