A British man committed terrorism offences by joining Kurdish militants to fight Islamic State in Syria, a court has heard.
Aidan James, 28, from Formby, Merseyside, who had no previous military knowledge, allegedly signed up with the PKK, which is banned in the UK, before setting out to join the Syrian war in 2017.
He prepared himself for battle in an “amateurish way”, undergoing initial training in north Wales and acquiring rudimentary combat equipment including body armour, the court heard. He arrived in Iraq between the end of August and beginning of October 2017, where he underwent further training.
James is accused of receiving training from the PKK, including weapons, before going on to fight with a series of Kurdish YPG – or people’s protection – units, in Syria.
The prosecution stressed he was not on trial for fighting Isis but for his intention to support an ideological or political cause – that of the PKK or Kurdistan Workers’ party – through violence.
“At the time and since, he claimed that his aim was to combat Islamic State,” said the prosecutor, Mark Heywood QC. “In reality, it was not just that – there was much more to it.
“He had picked his cause and it was the cause of just one of the many groups of people that inhabit that part of the world and would like it to be their own – the Kurdish people.
“The prosecution case against him is that he went as an individual to Syria to fight with guns and explosives.”
James had been monitored by police via the anti-terror Prevent programme after broadcasting his intention to fight Isis on Facebook and had even been arrested on 28 April 2017, the court heard.
He had been bailed until the following month but the bail was cancelled and no further action was taken against him.
On the day his passport was returned, James wrote in his journal that he was still planning to travel to Syria or Iraq “to fight this most important of battles against the sick ideology of Daesh [Isis]”.
While in Iraq, in a series of journal entries, he described his training and a series of raids against Isis strongholds, the jury was told. In one he wrote: “Raids went good. After the raids we sat and drank shots of red bull and discussed politics.”
In another entry, he described sitting on the roof of a Humvee “with a 50-calibre machine gun, like something out of Mad Max”.
The PKK has been banned in the UK since 2001 for its advocating of Kurdish self-rule through both political and armed struggle.
Heywood said: “The law says that what he wanted to do was terrorism – even if his eventual fighting was against other terrorists.”
James denies engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts and two charges of attending a place used for terrorist training.
The trial continues.
