13 March 2015: We are extremely concerned by the news that Silan Ozcelik, an 18 year-old woman from the Kurdish community in north London has been remanded for allegedly trying to join the Kurdish resistance against ISIS in northern Syria.
Yesterday, Silan was charged with ‘engaging in conduct in preparation to for giving an effect to an intention to commit acts of terrorism’ under section 5 (10) (a) of the Terrorism Act 2006 and remanded to Holloway prison to await trial on the 1st April.
We condemn the arrest as a blatant example of political and selective criminalisation of the Kurdish community at large, which has continued since the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has been listed on the UK’s list of ‘terrorist’ organisations.
We emphatically reject this labelling of the PKK, which we believe confuses the Kurdish people’s legitimate struggle for self-determination with terrorism and has the effect of criminalising anyone in our community who is part of peaceful political activity. We know that Silan has never committed any act of violence and poses no threat to the people of this country.
The arrest comes at a time when the Kurdish struggle has been garnering unprecedented international support for their recent armed struggle against ISIS. There, the PKK’s affiliated forces, the YPG and YPJ, have received praise from activists and senior politicians alike for their incredible efforts fighting back ISIS from Kobane and parts of northern Syria and Iraq.
Given this context, the arrest of a young Kurdish woman for allegedly attempting to join the YPJ seems more than a little contradictory. The YPG and YPJ, who had been in a tacit alliance with US and British forces in the struggle for Kobane, are not listed on any terrorist list.
We call for Silan’s immediate release, and for the PKK to be removed from the terrorism list once and for all.
REFERENCES
CAMPACC Briefing: The UK Ban on the PKK – Persecuting the Kurds
Desmond Fernandes: Surveillance, Targeting And The Criminalisation Of Kurds In The UK
Campaign to Delist the PKK
We encourage everyone to write to Silan in Holloway Prison to show her she is not fighting alone. Please send you letter via her solicitor:
Av. Ali Has Morgan Has Solicitors
Bank Chambers, 1st & 2nd Floor,
133 Stoke Newington High Street,
Stoke Newington
London N16 0PH
http://www.morganhassolicitors.co.uk/contact/
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Kurdish Question:
12th March 2015: This afternoon I had a call from a PA journalist informing me of the imprisonment of a young Kurdish woman and asking me if this was the first case of a person being charged for wanting to go to Syria to fight ISIS.
I was confused, “Sorry, can you repeat that again, what has happened?” He then again, told me that a young Kurdish woman has been jailed in the UK for wanting to go to Syria to fight ISIS.
Sill I was confused and it took me minutes to come to the realisation of what seems to be unfolding.
I was literally speechless and fumbled for my words and am still in shock. It is seemingly becoming more clear that the UK Govt are attempting to criminalise anyone who wants to fight ISIS while doing nothing to support the Kurds fight against ISIS in Syria.
When you look more closely at the UK government’s track record on the fight against ISIS in Syria, it is shockingly shameful.
The UK Defence Committee recently produced a report on the ‘Fight Against ISIS in Syria and Iraq’, for example with not one mention of the YPG’s heroic battle against ISIS for the last three years culminating in the first defeat inflicted upon ISIS’s seemingly unstoppable advance over the Middle East. There was no mention despite top UK barrister Margaret Owen submitting a detailed report on the YPG/YPJ heroic resistance against ISIS.
Then there was the first UK international volunteer to die in battle against ISIS, Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, the UK Govt’s postiion on the repatriation of his body has been equally shameful, in my view.
And now this: The first jailing of a young Kurdish woman who wanted to help her people being massacred and beheaded by ISIS during the appalling mauradings of ISIS into Ezidi villages and attacks on Kobane.
I’m frankly still in shock. A report of the details of her jailing yesterday are to be found below, she is due to appear in the Old Bailey, no less on the 1st April. No joke. Kurds and people with the slightest shred of humanity and disgust at the spread of ISIS and frustration at the UK Govt lack of support for the Kurds successful fight against them should call for the immediate release of this young girl whose only crime was to act on what we all feel is needed, and stated policy of the US Government led coalition against ISIS.
Please read the report below:
An 18-year-old Kurdish woman has appeared in court charged with a terror offence after she allegedly tried to fight for a group which is engaged in a battle against Islamic State (IS).
Silhan Ozcelik, of Highbury Quadrant, Holloway, north London, was arrested at Stansted Airport after she arrived on a flight from Germany on January 16.
She is accused of travelling by Eurostar from St Pancras to Brussels on October 27 and then attempting to join the guerrilla army in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party – known as the PKK – which is fighting against IS in Syria.
The PKK is proscribed by UK authorities as a terrorist group.
Ozcelik faces one charge of engaging in conduct in preparation for giving effect to an intention to commit acts of terrorism, contrary to section 5 (1) (a) of the Terrorism Act 2006.
Wearing a black and cream coat, blue shirt and black trousers, she spoke only to confirm her name, age and address during the short hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
District Judge John Zani remanded her in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on April 1.
As she was led away from the dock she smiled and appeared to mouth “It’s okay” to her brother, who followed proceedings from the public gallery.
SIGN EMERGENCY PETITION TO THE UK HOME SECRETARY THERESA MAY TO FREE SHILAN OZCELIK IMMEDIATELY!
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Anorak: Free Shilan Ozcelik the Londoner arrested for wanting to fight ISIS 15 March 2015
Do we know yet which side we are rooting for in the Syrian civil war? Once upon a time we are anti-Assad. Then we realised that some of the barrel-bombing dictator’s enemies were not our friends because they started to decapitate and burn people alive in snuff movies starring Islamic State’s leading video blogger Jihadi John. We had thought out best bet were the Kurds, who if not exactly holding the gates of Vienna were laying claim to land they were prepared to fight for.
And then we read of British teenage girl Shilan Ozcelik, 18. She’s been arrested for allegedly trying to fight for the glorious Kurds against Islamic State.
She might be a hero were it not for the British police.
Shilan Ozcelik, who is of Kurdish descent, was nicked at Stansted airport, having travelled from her family home in Holloway, north London. She faces a charge of “engaging in conduct in preparation for giving effect to an intention to commit acts of terrorism under the 2006 Terrorism Act”.
You might want to look out the window and see if the sun is now setting in the East and the world have turned back to front.
Her supporters say she travelled to Brussels in an attempt to join the women’s protection units, also known as YPJ, that are based in Rojava – the Kurdish enclave in northern Syria under attack by Isis.
She was arrested by on 16 January at as she returned from Brussels. Neither the YPJ nor the YPG, the main men’s Kurdish peshmerga militia in northern Syria, are banned organisations in the UK.
The charges against Ozcelik are understood to relate to the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK), which is outlawed in Britain and has spent decades fighting the Turkish army in a separatist conflict.
So. On Wednesday last,Shilan Ozcelik found herself not trying to save civilisation from the ISIS nutjobs but stood in Westminster magistrates court. She’s now behind bars at Holloway prison in north London. And next month, she’ll be in the Old Bailey.
Meanwhile, the Kurds are the only people on the ground the Western powers are backing to defeat ISIS…
Note: a British copper has told Shilan’s fellow London teenagers, Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-old Amira Abase, they will not be arrested should they choose to retutn from Islamic State. Mark Rowley, head of counterterrorism for the Metropolitan Police, says “we have no evidence to support (the teens’) involvement in terrorism.”
Note 2: In January, “Big shot Boris” Johnson, the London mayor, on the Iraqi front line, taking s aim at ISIS with a Kalashnikov as he visits British troops training Peshmerga fighters.
POSTED: 15TH, MARCH 2015
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Write to Shilan at:
Silan Ozcelik
Prison No: A8733DK
HMP Holloway
Parkhurst Road
London N7 0NU
Shilan (Silhan) Ozcelik, an 18 year-old Kurdish comrade from London, has been held on remand in Holloway prison charged with preparing to commit acts of terrorism. Her charge relates to allegedly trying to join the fight against Daesh (ISIS) in Syria.
Shilan was arrested at Stansted airport in January after returning from a trip to mainland Europe, but appeared in court only last week charged with the offence under section 5 (1)(a) of the Terrorism Act 2006. She is accused of trying to join fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is banned as a terrorist organisation in the UK. It’s the first known prosecution in relation to people in the UK joining the fight against Daesh.
An emergency demo was held outside Holloway on Friday to support her. Shilhan is due to appear at the Old Bailey on 1st April – updates will be shared here if further demos are called.
http://machorka.espivblogs.net/2015/03/17/support-shilan-ozcelik-update/
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Guardian 1.4.2015: Kurds protest in support of British teenager at terrorism hearing
Two dozen protesters gathered outside London’s Old Bailey at the pre-trial hearing of Shilan Ozcelik, 18, charged in relation to activities in Syria and Iraq
A small but noisy group of Kurdish protesters gathered outside the Old Bailey in London on Wednesday to protest at terrorism charges brought against a British teenager.
Shilan Ozcelik , an 18-year-old of Kurdish descent, was arrested earlier this year at Stansted airport.
She is believed to be the first British citizen to be arrested for allegedly trying to join the campaign against Islamic State in eastern Syria and western Iraq.
Outside the pre-trial hearing on Wednesday, Ozcelik’s supporters held up banners and could be heard chanting outside the court. She was refused bail and will remain in Holloway prison until a full hearing on 7 September.
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Ozcelik, from Holloway, north London, faces one charge of engaging in conduct in preparation for giving effect to an intention to commit acts of terrorism under the 2006 Terrorism Act.
It is understood that the charges against Ozcelik relate to the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which is outlawed in Britain and has been locked in a separatist conflict with the Turkish army for decades.
Speaking outside the court, Mark Campbell, one of the organisers of the protest, said the teenager’s arrest had come at a time when Kurdish efforts to repel Isis were gaining widespread international support.
Neither the YPJ, the main women’s Kurdish militia in northern Syria, nor the YPG, the men’s militia, are listed as terrorist organisations. Supporters say the militias “have received praise from activists and senior politicians alike for their incredible efforts fighting back Isis from Kobane and parts of northern Syria and Iraq”.
Outside the court, around two dozen protesters held up placards calling for Ozcelik to be released, with slogans including: “We are all YPJ” and: “Shilan Ozcelik is not a threat to UK national security, Isis is”.
A statement issued by Peace in Kurdistan said: “The YPG and YPJ, who had been in a tacit alliance with US and British forces in the struggle for Kobane, are not listed on any terrorist list.”
Ozcelik was arrested on 16 January as she returned to the UK from Brussels.
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Independent: Anti-terror police question London teenager Silhan Ozcelik ‘who went to Syria to fight against Isis’ James Merrill