COPENHAGEN, Denmark - A 47-year-old Dutch man and former soldier appeared in a Rotterdam court for allegedly killing militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) while fighting with the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) in Syria.
The man, idenfied as J.A. because his full name was not released under Dutch privacy laws, was provisionally released. But the court ordered his passport seized so he could not leave the country, and he must report at a police station every week.
The Dutch prosecutors wrote in a press release that J.A. is a former soldier, whose fight against ISIS is known from "Dutch media and Facebook."
They explained that: ”Dutch law, apart for exceptional circumstances like self-defence, does not give citizens the right to use force and particularly not deadly force.”
"Killing an ISIS fighter, therefore, could mean being prosecuted for murder,” the prosecutors said in their statement.
It was not possible to reach J.A. despite repeated attempts, but he recently told the local newspaper at his northern Dutch village that his fight has probably saved dozens of other lives.
"When you see what they've done... by killing a member of ISIS I have probably saved dozens of lives," he was quoted as saying.
His friend, the female Canadian anti-ISIS fighter, Hanna Böhman, who fought with the YPG and its female wing YPJ, criticized the case.
”To persecute someone because he may have killed an ISIS pedophile is ridiculous, especially when a coalition of countries are doing the exact same thing,” said Böhman, who was in the same battalion with J.A. for about six weeks.
The Netherlands also has been part of the US-led coalition against ISIS since October 2014, including using four F-16s to fly close air support missions for the Iraqi army.
The country has trained Kurdish Peshmerga forces as part of the government’s efforts against ISIS in Iraq.
Böhman told Rudaw she hoped that the case is a “political game and I hope sensible heads will prevail and the charges will be dropped.”
She said she is “worried” other YPG-warriors going home would risk being arrested.
An Internet petition calling for the charges against J.A. to be dropped has so far collected some 32,000 names.
Several foreign fighters have traveled to Syria and neighboring Iraq to fight with Kurdish forces battling ISIS.
In 2014, three men from a Dutch biker fraternity were reported to have joined the Peshmerga in northern Iraq, according to NOS, the Dutch Broadcast Foundation. The three men, all said to be former soldiers, were members of the motorcycle club “No Surrender.”
In 2015, Ivana Hoffman, a native of South Africa with German citizenship, was killed fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Syria in the war against ISIS, according to agency reports.
Before that, a British man, Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, and an Australian Ase Johnson, were reported killed while battling ISIS.
Foreign fighters also have joined the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq, which remains a staunch US and Western ally in the war against ISIS.
In November 2015, Shilan Ozcelik, an 18-year-old British girl of Kurdish descent, was convicted in Britain of trying to fight with YPG and its female wing YPJ against ISIS in Syria.
The man, idenfied as J.A. because his full name was not released under Dutch privacy laws, was provisionally released. But the court ordered his passport seized so he could not leave the country, and he must report at a police station every week.
The Dutch prosecutors wrote in a press release that J.A. is a former soldier, whose fight against ISIS is known from "Dutch media and Facebook."
They explained that: ”Dutch law, apart for exceptional circumstances like self-defence, does not give citizens the right to use force and particularly not deadly force.”
"Killing an ISIS fighter, therefore, could mean being prosecuted for murder,” the prosecutors said in their statement.
It was not possible to reach J.A. despite repeated attempts, but he recently told the local newspaper at his northern Dutch village that his fight has probably saved dozens of other lives.
"When you see what they've done... by killing a member of ISIS I have probably saved dozens of lives," he was quoted as saying.
His friend, the female Canadian anti-ISIS fighter, Hanna Böhman, who fought with the YPG and its female wing YPJ, criticized the case.
”To persecute someone because he may have killed an ISIS pedophile is ridiculous, especially when a coalition of countries are doing the exact same thing,” said Böhman, who was in the same battalion with J.A. for about six weeks.
The Netherlands also has been part of the US-led coalition against ISIS since October 2014, including using four F-16s to fly close air support missions for the Iraqi army.
The country has trained Kurdish Peshmerga forces as part of the government’s efforts against ISIS in Iraq.
Böhman told Rudaw she hoped that the case is a “political game and I hope sensible heads will prevail and the charges will be dropped.”
She said she is “worried” other YPG-warriors going home would risk being arrested.
An Internet petition calling for the charges against J.A. to be dropped has so far collected some 32,000 names.
Several foreign fighters have traveled to Syria and neighboring Iraq to fight with Kurdish forces battling ISIS.
In 2014, three men from a Dutch biker fraternity were reported to have joined the Peshmerga in northern Iraq, according to NOS, the Dutch Broadcast Foundation. The three men, all said to be former soldiers, were members of the motorcycle club “No Surrender.”
In 2015, Ivana Hoffman, a native of South Africa with German citizenship, was killed fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Syria in the war against ISIS, according to agency reports.
Before that, a British man, Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, and an Australian Ase Johnson, were reported killed while battling ISIS.
Foreign fighters also have joined the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq, which remains a staunch US and Western ally in the war against ISIS.
In November 2015, Shilan Ozcelik, an 18-year-old British girl of Kurdish descent, was convicted in Britain of trying to fight with YPG and its female wing YPJ against ISIS in Syria.
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