Labour blasted over honouring of terror leader
THE mother of a terrorist bombing victim hit out at Labour chiefs yesterday for “honouring” the man behind her daughter’s murder.
Sharon Holden, 54, condemned Labour-controlled Greater London Assembly after members held an event paying homage to Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Ocalan’s PKK group killed Mrs Holden’s daughter Helyn Bennett, 21, when an activist blew up a tourist minibus the family were travelling in while on holiday in Turkey in 2005.
But it has emerged GLA Labour members Unmesh Desai and Jennette Arnold hosted a rally, called Freedom for Ocalan, for the group’s 70-year-old founder at City Hall in central London on January 15.
Labour assembly group leader Len Duvall and London Mayor Sadiq Khan were reportedly aware of the rally. Mrs Holden, of Spennymoor, County Durham, said: “I can’t believe the Labour party has held this event. There are so many worthy and decent people and organisations we could honour in this country and they choose to hold an event for terrorists.
“Those people devastated my family. We are still living every day with the loss of Helen, the pain never goes away. I just don’t know what they were thinking and the fact it was paid for by British taxpayers is an insult.”
Ocalan was the driving force of the group and, although captured 20 years ago and imprisoned by Turkey, he is still seen as its spiritual leader.
A spokesman for the Labour GLA group said: “A private event was held in City Hall. It was not a Labour group event and approval was not required from the leader nor from the mayor.”