PRO-KURDISH activists accused Facebook of political censorship yesterday after it closed down a page expressing solidarity with Kurds in Syria.

The Leeds Friends of Rojava page was suspended after the site said it didn’t comply with Facebook’s “community standards.”

Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign (KSC) co-secretary Rosa Gilbert accused the social media giant of going out of its way to censor posts criticising Turkey and offering support for Kurds.

“Thanks to a leak a few years ago by one of Facebook’s ‘content moderators,’ we know that there is an internationally applied Facebook policy to censor maps of Kurdistan, criticisms of Turkey and Ataturk, and anything relating to the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan.”

She said the policy had broadened to include censoring posts supporting the YPG which is not listed as a terrorist organisation in Britain although it is in Turkey.

“This should concern anyone with an interest in freedom of speech — why should someone writing a Facebook post in England face censorship because the Turkish government doesn’t like what you’re writing?”