JINHA

NEWS CENTER – A London court has ruled not to release London young woman Şilan Özçelik, charged with a "terror" offense for trying to join the YPJ, on her own recognizance in the first hearing of her case yesterday. Şilan will continue to be imprisoned, with her next hearing scheduled for September 7.

UK police arrested Şilan on her return from a trip to Brussels, allegedly to join the Rojava women's army YPJ. In a March 11 decision, the Westminster Magistrates Court ordered her to be held in HM Prison Holloway in London. Her first hearing took place yesterday at the Old Bailey, where the Özçelik family and representatives of Kurdish institutions gathered to support her.

At the support action outside the courthouse, UK Kurdish groups and supporters bore posters of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, Şilan herself, and flags of the YPG and YPJ. Protestors said that "trying Şilan was supporting ISIS" and called for the young woman's immediate release.

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