JINHA

NEWS CENTER - Şilan Özçelik (Shilan Ozcelik), an 18-year-old Kurdish woman from north London who has been accused of supporting "terrorism" by attempting to join the YPJ, will have her first hearing in the Old Bailey today.

The hearing is set to begin at 1:30 pm. Over a hundred people are expected to take part in the action, which calls for her immediate release. Over 3,000 petition signers have also called for the young woman's release.

"We condemn the arrest as a blatant example of political and selective criminalisation of the Kurdish community at large, which has continued since the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has been listed on the UK's list of 'terrorist' organisations," said local Kurdish organizations in a statement."We emphatically reject this labelling of the PKK, which we believe confuses the Kurdish people's legitimate struggle for self-determination with terrorism and has the effect of criminalising anyone in our community who is part of peaceful political activity."

"We know that Silan has never committed any act of violence and poses no threat to the people of this country. The arrest comes at a time when the Kurdish struggle has been garnering unprecedented international support for their recent armed struggle against ISIS. There, the PKK's affiliated forces, the YPG and YPJ, have received praise from activists and senior politicians alike for their incredible efforts fighting back ISIS from Kobane and parts of northern Syria and Iraq.

"Given this context, the arrest of a young Kurdish woman for allegedly attempting to join the YPJ seems more than a little contradictory. The YPG and YPJ, who had been in a tacit alliance with US and British forces in the struggle for Kobane, are not listed on any terrorist list. We call for Silan's immediate release, and for the PKK to be removed from the terrorism list once and for all."

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