Another Briton charged for fighting IS
A BRITON charged with terror offences for fighting against Islamic State travelled to Syria despite having his passport taken away by anti-terror police, a court heard yesterday.
Aidan James, 27, is said to have travelled to Syria and Iraq to battle IS with Kurdish forces, the PKK and YPG militias, but denies being a terrorist on the basis that British forces are also involved in the fight.
James told Westminster magistrates’ court he fought alongside former British soldier James Matthews who appeared at the same court on Wednesday.
Although James’s passport was taken away after anti-terror police visited him to advise him not to travel to Syria, the court heard, he obtained a new one.
He wrote he was ‘chilling with the PKK’ in a diary about his adventures and that he was ‘in the mountains with the YPG’ and ‘fighting the Assad regime’. The court was also told he claimed to have married a Syrian woman.
He flew from Manchester to Heathrow on August 30 last year, then on to Jordan before travelling to a training camp in Iraq. He went on to Syria on November 4.
The father-of-one from Formby, Merseyside, was arrested five months later on his return to Britain at Liverpool airport on Valentine’s Day.
Matthew Wallace, defending, said: ‘He left this country to fight against ISIS. The charges are preparing acts of terrorism. What act of terrorism has he committed? It’s very clear he has not fought against any internationally recognised states, only against ISIS. The YPG are not a terrorist organisation. Are the British forces in Syria fighting alongside the YPG against ISIS?’
James was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey next month.