Former soldier who fought Isil given jail term in Turkey

A FORMER British soldier has been sentenced to spend seven years and six months in a Turkish jail for fighting against Islamic State militants in Syria alongside Kurdish militia forces.

Joe Robinson, 25, of Accrington in Lancashire, was convicted of being a member of a terrorist organisation.

He was sentenced on Friday but is still out on bail, The Sunday Telegraph understands. The Foreign Office said it was “standing ready” to provide consular assistance.

Robinson, who toured Afghanistan with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment in 2012, went to Syria in July 2015, days after a terrorist killed 38 tourists including 30 Britons in a mass-shooting in Sousse in Tunisia. He has said he was inspired to go to protect civilians from Islamic militants, after becoming incensed by gory Isil propaganda videos and what he saw as British inaction.

Robinson spent four weeks with the People’s Protection Units of Syrian Kurdistan (YPG) working as a combat medic according to his family. He then crossed into Iraq to join Iraqi-govern- ment-backed Peshmerga forces fighting Isil, before returning to the UK in November 2015.

Membership of the YPG is illegal in Turkey, where the government argues the group is affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state for decades. The YPG is not a proscribed terrorist group in the UK.

On his return Robinson was arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences by British police at Manchester airport but all charges were dropped after a ten-month investigation.

Last July, while on holiday in Turkey with his fiancée and her mother, Robinson and both women were arrested in an armed raid by Turkish police.

The women were released after six days. Robinson was released on bail in November, but had to remain in Turkey.

The Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign praised Robinson for “selflessly” battling Isil, and called on the Government to stand up for the former soldier.

The website Kurdistan24 said Robinson has spoken to his mother by phone and intends to appeal his sentence.