PRESS NOTICE
A hearing is set to take place at Folkestone Magistrates Court next week in which solicitors representing members of the Kurdish community in London will attempt to recover hundreds of pounds confiscated by police during a counter-terrorism border stop.
The money was taken from a coach load of demonstrators who were stopped in Dover on their way to a protest in Paris in January this year. Under Schedule 7 powers, the police detained the mostly female passengers, searched them and confiscated any cash they were holding, alleging it were to be used as ‘resources for a proscribed organisation’. Like many other minority groups in the UK, the Kurdish community is heavily criminalised and and disproportionately targeted by counter-terrorism measures such as this, which impose punishment without the need for a trial.
You will find more details on the incident and controversial use of the draconian Schedule 7 measures below and an article relating to the incident attached. The hearing will take place at 9.50am on Wednesday 17th December.
--- Briefing on Dover incident
Use of Schedule 7 powers at Dover:
On the evening of 10th January 2014 a convoy of three coaches set out from the Kurdish Community Centre in Haringey to attend a mass demonstration in France marking the anniversary of the murders in Paris of three Kurdish activists Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez. The murders were a truly shocking event and credible evidence has emerged linking the murders to elements connected to the Turkish State.
The coaches from the KCC arrived at Dover port at approximately 2:00am on 11th January 2014. The first two coaches were permitted to proceed without incident. But the almost entirely female passengers on the third coach were directed off the coach and required to wait for a period of over 7 hours while each person (and/or family group) was questioned under the controversial provisions of Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Under Schedule 7 no reasonable suspicion is required to detain anyone and no explanation needs to be provided for why a detention is taking place. It therefore provides the perfect opportunity for the police to gather information on individuals regardless of whether there is a genuine belief that they are involved in activities that could properly be characterised as terrorism. It is a criminal offence not to answer questions.
Confiscation of Cash under the ATCSA
In parallel to the questioning, the passengers were searched. Those who were carrying cash had it confiscated under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act (ATCSA) 2001, on the grounds that the police reasonably suspected that it was intended to be used for the purposes of terrorism.
Nine months after the money was originally seized, on 2 October 2014 the police made a formal application to the court for the forfeiture of the seized cash. As the reason for the application, “it is believed that the cash represents the resources of a proscribed organisation, namely the PKK, and was intended to be used for the purposes of terrorism”.
No evidence has been provided so far to support this allegation. The Kurds enroute to Paris have been doubly penalized – prevented from attending the commemoration, and deprived of their cash. This illustrates how anti-terror powers impose punishment without trial.
At a time when the world is just beginning to wake up to the true centrality of the Kurdish question in the Middle East, this application could not be any more ill-judged.
Hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees are fleeing the violence aimed at them and living in appalling conditions. They are reliant on support from the Kurdish diaspora, both physical and moral, from all parts of the world. To criminalise any expression of lawful support for the Kurdish cause serves to assist those who refuse to recognise its legitimacy.
The next hearing in this case is 17 th December, 9.50am, Courtroom 02 at Folkstone Magistrates Court, The Law Courts, Castle Hill Ave, Folkestone, Kent CT20 2GS, where the Kurds’ legal representatives will again request the return of the confiscated funds.
On the evening of 10th January 2014 a convoy of three coaches set out from the Kurdish Community Centre in Haringey to attend a mass demonstration in France marking the anniversary of the murders in Paris of three Kurdish activists Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez. The murders were a truly shocking event and credible evidence has emerged linking the murders to elements connected to the Turkish State.
The coaches from the KCC arrived at Dover port at approximately 2:00am on 11th January 2014. The first two coaches were permitted to proceed without incident. But the almost entirely female passengers on the third coach were directed off the coach and required to wait for a period of over 7 hours while each person (and/or family group) was questioned under the controversial provisions of Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Under Schedule 7 no reasonable suspicion is required to detain anyone and no explanation needs to be provided for why a detention is taking place. It therefore provides the perfect opportunity for the police to gather information on individuals regardless of whether there is a genuine belief that they are involved in activities that could properly be characterised as terrorism. It is a criminal offence not to answer questions.
Confiscation of Cash under the ATCSA
In parallel to the questioning, the passengers were searched. Those who were carrying cash had it confiscated under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act (ATCSA) 2001, on the grounds that the police reasonably suspected that it was intended to be used for the purposes of terrorism.
Nine months after the money was originally seized, on 2 October 2014 the police made a formal application to the court for the forfeiture of the seized cash. As the reason for the application, “it is believed that the cash represents the resources of a proscribed organisation, namely the PKK, and was intended to be used for the purposes of terrorism”.
No evidence has been provided so far to support this allegation. The Kurds enroute to Paris have been doubly penalized – prevented from attending the commemoration, and deprived of their cash. This illustrates how anti-terror powers impose punishment without trial.
At a time when the world is just beginning to wake up to the true centrality of the Kurdish question in the Middle East, this application could not be any more ill-judged.
Hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees are fleeing the violence aimed at them and living in appalling conditions. They are reliant on support from the Kurdish diaspora, both physical and moral, from all parts of the world. To criminalise any expression of lawful support for the Kurdish cause serves to assist those who refuse to recognise its legitimacy.
The next hearing in this case is 17 th December, 9.50am, Courtroom 02 at Folkstone Magistrates Court, The Law Courts, Castle Hill Ave, Folkestone, Kent CT20 2GS, where the Kurds’ legal representatives will again request the return of the confiscated funds.
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