Scottish MP Natalie McGarry detained by Turkish security forces
Natalie McGarry, who said she was safe and returning to the UK soon [Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images].
That’s still ongoing – but now she has turned up in Turkey, despite the fact that Parliament is sitting and she is still a member, despite having resigned the SNP whip.
What’s the story here, exactly?
The Scottish MP Natalie McGarry has been released by Turkish security forces after being detained for questioning following concerns about her using recording equipment.
She tweeted that she was “safe and absolutely fine” after reports in the Turkish media saying she had been taken into custody by police in Diyarbakir, south-east Turkey, despite showing her passport. She was believed to have been visiting the country on a trip organised by the GMB union.
Source: Scottish MP Natalie McGarry detained by Turkish security forces | UK news | The Guardian
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She was over there as part of a group campaigning for the release of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan who was imprisoned in 1999. She has been a vociferous critic of the Turkish government accusing them of using the war in Syria and Iraq as cover to target Kurds. She was recording the bombing of the Kurds which the Turkish forces for obvious reasons.
But she is also under investigation regarding a large amount of missing money. Anybody in such a position should not be allowed to leave the UK until after that investigation concluded, in my opinion.
Well, that is of course your opinion since she is (suspended) SNP. If it was some backbench Labour MP I doubt you would even have brought the issue up. You’re the only blogger I know who has a specific anti-SNP section on their site, which says it all. She’s hardly a master criminal and flight risk. If that was to be even suspected, the courts would have her passport.
That ‘Falsehoods of Scottish Nationalists’ section needs updating; there’s a fair amount of extra material that I need to put in.
But I have other matters taking me away from it, that concern the well-being of people across the whole of the UK.
She may not be a master criminal but if she has been misappropriating funds, then a trip abroad would be a perfect opportunity to move the cash somewhere it can’t be found. I do wonder, therefore, why her passport was not taken.
No, for once this is not about a person being a Nat, it’s about the possibility of them being a criminal – and actually stealing from the same people you claim to be representing.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Now you’re talking like a true Tory. Whatever happened to innocent till proven guilty? She is merely under investigation. If she had been charged, then her passport would probably have been confiscated.
Restrictions may be placed on people who are under investigation, while evidence is gathered.
This is an ongoing investigation and evidence is being gathered.
Nobody is suggesting that she is guilty of anything – yet. But a trip abroad while under police investigation is, in the opinion of THIS grizzled old news-hack, extremely suspicious.