Three men who showed their support for the proscribed Kurdistan Workers’ Party by waving their flags at a rally in London have lost their final appeal against convictions at the UK’s highest court.
Rahman Pwr, Ismail Akdogan and Rotinda Demir were arrested after they were spotted by police waving the PKK flags during a January 2018 protest against Turkey’s cross-border military operation in the Syrian town of Afrin.
The operation led to hundreds of Kurds being killed and thousands more being forced to leave their homes because of the fighting.
The PKK, which launched its armed struggle against Turkey in 1984 in pursuit of an independent Kurdish state within Turkey, was proscribed by the UK as a terrorist organisation 21 years ago. The group is also banned by the US, EU, Australia, Turkey and others.
British terrorism laws introduced in 2000 banned a person from displaying an article that “arouses reasonable suspicion” that a person is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation. It carries a penalty of up to six months in jail.
Police did not link them to chants of “PKK, PKK” during the march, but Pwr took a selfie of himself carrying the flag. He was also seen making a "V for victory" gesture while carrying it.
The three men were convicted in September 2018 but left court without extra punishment. The trio brought, and lost, appeals but went to the UK’s highest court saying that the conviction breached their human rights and their rights to freedom of expression.
They also said it was unfair that prosecutors did not have to prove their motivations for carrying the flags.
But five judges dismissed the appeal on Wednesday. The laws were “designed to deny a proscribed organisation the oxygen of publicity or a projected air of legitimacy”, they said in their ruling.
“The offence is part of a rational counter-terrorism strategy to stymie the operation of proscribed organisations.”