British volunteer who fought Isil to face charges of terrorism
A FORMER British Army soldier who joined Kurdish forces to fight against Islamic State extremists is to be charged with terrorism offences in the first case of its kind.
James Matthews is to appear in court next week to face a charge of attending a terrorist training camp, Scotland Yard said last night.
The 43-year-old returned to Britain to attend the funeral last week of Jac Holmes, a fellow British volunteer fighting with the Kurds who was killed in Raqqa in late 2017.
Counter-terrorism sources said the charges against Mr Matthews were the first of their kind, but denied they heralded a change in policy towards those fighting against Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (Isil).
While there has been public sympathy for the rag-tag band of volunteers who have joined the Kurdish YPG militia fighting Isil, the British authorities say that the battle-hardened volunteers may still be vulnerable to radicalisation and potentially pose a security risk.
Turkey also says the YPG is linked to the PKK separatist group, which is proscribed in the UK.
Sources said returning volunteers were being investigated on a case-bycase basis. Several have been arrested and questioned on their return.
Mr Matthews is believed to have served several years with the Army in the Nineties and was deployed to Bosnia. He joined the YPG in 2015 and has served three tours with the militia group, specialising in clearing mines and booby-traps, Kurdish sources told The Daily Telegraph. He appeared in a Channel 4 documentary – The Brits Battling Isis – about fighting the extremists and their self-styled caliphate.
He will appear in court on Feb 14 to face a charge of attending a place used for terrorist training, under the Terrorism Act 2006, the Metropolitan Police said.
In March 2017, he was a signatory of an “open letter from British YPG fighters on London attacks” posted on a Kurdish news website.
In it they urged people not to give in to extremism of any kind following the attacks in Westminster, London Bridge and Manchester.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said that Matthews had been “requisitioned to appear” in court on Valentine’s Day.
He said: “James Matthews, a UK national, will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on February 14 to be formally charged with attending a place or places in Iraq and Syria where instruction or training was provided for purposes connected to the commission or preparation of terrorism on or before February 15 2016 under Section 8 of the Terrorism Act 2006.”