BRIT AID ‘IS PAYING FOR EXTREMISTS’
Beeb probe links cash to killings
A BRITISH aid project that allegedly helped fund beheadings and stonings has been suspended.
BBC’s Panorama claimed that taxpayers’ money was supporting a police force in Syria and fundamentalists.
The police have been working with courts accused of torture and summary executions.
In one case, officers from the British-backed Free Syrian Police are alleged to have closed roads so two women could be stoned to death.
In April this year, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the UK would hand over another £4million.
But the Foreign Office has now suspended all funding while Panorama’s claims, to be aired on BBC One tonight, are investigated.
British company Adam Smith International runs the police project and last night insisted it was an unarmed community force. A spokesman said: “We have managed taxpayers’ money effectively to confront terrorism and bring security to communities.”
Documents also show some police officers in Aleppo handed cash to the extremist group in control of the area, which has been linked to the beheading of a young prisoner.
A Government official said: “We take any allegations of co-operation with terrorist groups and of human rights abuses extremely seriously.”