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Manor House camp protest calls for solidarity with jailed Kurdish MP Leyla Guven

KURDISH rights campaigners in London called for solidarity with with imprisoned opposition MP Leyla Guven yesterday on her hunger strike “to the death.”

Activists have been camped outside Manor House Station in north London for 11 days today, taking in turns to go on hunger strike in support of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) MP.

Ms Guven has been refusing to eat since November 7 in her call for the end to the isolation of imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party leader Abdullah Ocalan.

She was arrested in January for opposing Turkey’s invasion and occupation of the Kurdish region Afrin in northern Syria and faces 31 years in prison on terrorism charges.

Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign co-secretary Rosa Gilbert called on socialists and trade unionists in Britain to offer solidarity with Ms Guven's "hunger strike to the death."

"She is heroically putting her life on the line to force the Turkish state to stop its war on Kurds and commence a peace process," Ms Gilbert told the Star.

"But we know that President Erdogan will only act if there is tremendous international pressure. It is Incumbent on us to act — her life is in our hands."

The activists have also welcomed the return of former British solider Joe Robinson, who was jailed in Turkey on terror charges for fighting with the Kurdish YPG against Isis.

Mr Robinson said he had "suffered" in Turkey for nearly a year and a half, including the four months spent in prison, and left the country without permission from the Turkish courts.

He said he received "very little support" from the British Foreign Office and had to take matters into his own hands.

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