Jamie Janson
Jamie Janson | |
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YPG | |
Relatives | (grandfather) |
James Charles Harold Janson (6 September 1975 – 4 September 2019) was a British
Biography
Janson was born in Paddington, the son of Martin Janson and his wife Mary Balfour, a daughter of Harold Balfour, 1st Baron Balfour of Inchrye by his marriage to a sister of the disgraced Conservative politician John Profumo.[3] On his father's side, Janson was a grandson of Elizabeth Sutherland, 24th Countess of Sutherland.[4] Educated at Eton College, he worked as a volunteer in refugee camps[5] all over Europe and the Middle East, including the Calais Jungle, where he taught English.[4] Janson wrote a number of articles about his experiences working with refugees.[6]
He also spent some years as a film maker, producing videos for activist organisations, including the Green Party, Object, and NO2ID.[7] He wrote and directed a number of short films[8] and a pilot episode of a comedy series called 'Be Well', based in a therapy clinic.[9]
Janson joined the YPG after spending time working in
Janson appeared in YPG propaganda videos, including one condemning what he perceived as Western inaction during the Turkish-led Afrin offensive of 2018.[10] He was interviewed for several print articles and by the BBC.[2][11] Interviews with him also feature in the BBC documentary "Anna, the woman who went to fight ISIS",[12] about the British YPJ fighter, Anna Campbell who died in the Afrin assault.
Upon his return to Britain in 2018, Janson was arrested in Kent under section 5 of the Terrorism Act.[13] He was still under investigation at the time of his death sixteen months later,[14] although no former YPG volunteers have been successfully prosecuted by the British government.[15]
Janson died on 4 September 2019, taking his own life after a long struggle with mental illness.[14][5] He was buried in the grounds of Dunrobin Castle, Golspie, Scotland, the seat of the Earls of Sutherland.
Footnotes
- ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
- ^ a b c d "'I hope I haven't killed anyone'". BBC News. 27 January 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- ^ a b "Tragic death of Countess of Sutherland's grandson". Northern Times. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
- ^ ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
- ^ "The terror and trauma of life as a Syrian refugee". CapX. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
- ^ "phemefilms". Retrieved 1 October 2019 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Jamie Janson". IMDb. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ^ "Be Well Episode 1 – Sue". Retrieved 1 October 2019 – via Vimeo.
- ^ Internationalist Jamie Janson: "The human cost is enormous, the destruction indescriminate.", retrieved 23 September 2019
- ^ "BBC World Service – Newshour, Syrian town of Afrin on 'edge of disaster'". BBC. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ^ "BBC Two – Anna: The Woman Who Went to Fight ISIS". BBC. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ "John Profumo's grand-nephew arrested by terror police after fighting against Isis in Syria". The Independent. 3 May 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
- ^ a b Evans, Martin (13 September 2019). "John Profumo's great nephew, who fought against Isil, dies 16-months after returning from Syria". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
- ^ "British man who fought Isis in Syria faces retrial over terror charges". The Independent. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.