Westerners who dropped their cosy lives to fight ISIS alongside the Kurdish fighters face being treated like returning jihadis.

The UK is among many countries including Germany, The Netherlands and Australia, who penalise volunteers who risked their lives.

Former British soldier Joe Robinson, 25, was arrested on holiday on trumped-up terrorism charges in 2017.

His partner Mira Rojkan, a Bulgarian citizen studying Law, was also arrested and accused of engaging in terrorist propaganda.

Rojkan was given a suspended sentence, the BBC reported Robinson’s mother as saying.

Robinson, who previously served in Afghanistan with the Duke of Lancaster Regiment, previously admitted fighting ISIS but went on to deny he acted alongside the Kurdish militia.

He wasn’t jailed in the UK, but last September he was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in Turkey.

He remained on bail as he appealed his sentence, but weeks before Christmas, he told the BBC he fled Turkey.

He said: “I could not accept the sentence and charges as I am not a criminal” adding “I had to take matters into my own hands.”

Although officials haven’t yet jailed returning volunteers in the UK, many others have faced intense scrutiny and prosecution upon their return.

Brit teacher and ex-soldier James Matthews, 44, was the first British citizen to be charged on his return with terror offences.

But after a two-and-a-half year investigation, all charges against him were dropped.

source: thesun.co.uk