A British man who travelled to Syria to fight against Islamic State has been charged with terror offences, police have said.
Aidan James, 27, from Merseyside, is accused of the preparation of a terrorist act and attending a place used for terrorist training, after he joined the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which the British government has openly supported since Isis declared an “Islamic caliphate” in 2014.
James is due to appear at Westminster magistrates court on Friday.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester police said: “Aidan James, of no fixed abode, has been charged with one count of preparation of terrorist acts contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006 and two counts of attendance at a place used for terrorist training contrary to section 8 of the Terrorism Act 2006.”
The UK government has repeatedly warned that anyone travelling to join a foreign conflict may be prosecuted. The case is the second of its kind to emerge in as many weeks.
On Wednesday, James Matthews, 43, from London, was cheered by Kurdish supporters and other returned anti-Isis fighters as he appeared in court charged with one count of attending a place used for terrorist training. He pleaded not guilty.
Dozens of British men – and one woman – have joined the YPG since the first volunteers began arriving there in autumn 2014. While most, until now, have been questioned by counter-terror officers upon their return, James and Matthews are the first to be charged under the Terrorism Act.
The charges signal a significant shift in how the British government treats citizens who volunteer to fight Isis in northern Syria.
The British, along with the US, France and other EU nations, have provided military, financial and tactical support for the YPG since 2014.
But it is considered a terrorist organisation by the Turkish government, which has applied continuing pressure on western governments to treat returning volunteers as terrorists.
Upon arrival in Syria, all new recruits attend the YPG’s mandatory month-long training programme, in which they learn basic Kurdish, weaponry and battlefield tactics and are given a crash course in the YPG’s socialist and feminist ideology. They are usually assigned to an infantry division, given a Kurdish nom de guerre and sent into battle.
Seven British nationals are believed to have been killed fighting with the YPG, most recently Oliver Hall, 24, from Portsmouth, and Jac Holmes, 24, from Dorset, who were both killed in the former Isis stronghold of Raqqa.
Other Britons killed fighting Isis in the past year include Mehmet Aksoy, 32, a press officer from London, Luke Rutter, 22, from Birkenhead, and Ryan Lock, 20, who shot himself to avoid capture on 21 December 2016.
In July 2016, Dean Evans, 22, a dairy farmer from Reading, died in the city of Manbij, while Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, 25, a former Royal Marine from Barnsley, was killed fighting in the northern village of Tel Khuzela in 2015.
The Foreign Office has long advised British citizens against travelling to Syria. “As all UK consular services are suspended in Syria, it is extremely difficult to confirm the whereabouts and status of British nationals in the country,” a spokesperson said.
