Australia to Cease Terrorists’ Citizenship

Local Editor

Australia said Tuesday it will introduce new laws this week to strip dual nationals linked to terrorism of their citizenship, but backed away from putting the power in the hands of a single minister.

The legislation will see the Citizenship Act - which currently stipulates a person ceases to be a national if they serve in the armed forces of a country at war with Australia - expanded to include people who "fight against us in a terrorist group".

"Today's announcement is about giving the government additional mechanisms for stopping hardened terrorists returning to Australia", Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters.

The announcement came as the government sought to confirm reports that two high-profile Australians fighting with the "ISIL", Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, were killed in the Iraqi city of Mosul in the past week.

The government has been increasingly worried about foreign militants returning home, with parliament passing a slew of national security laws since Canberra raised the national threat alert to high in September.

The new laws announced Tuesday will see dual nationals lose their citizenship through "renunciation by conduct" and "revocation by conviction", said Abbott, which means loss of citizenship would occur automatically under the expanded act.
In essence, he continued, citizenship could be stripped from foreign militants or people who "engage in terrorism-related conduct inspired by terrorist groups" in Australia or overseas, if they are dual nationals.

Canberra had previously mulled allowing the immigration minister the right to decide who should lose their citizenship, but he will now only inform them of their fate.
The laws will be examined by a parliamentary committee on intelligence and security. The Labor opposition is generally supportive of the changes.

About half of the 120 Australians that the government believes are fighting with extremist groups in the Middle East are dual nationals, the prime minister said.
The intelligence and security committee would also look into whether the legislation, if passed, could be retrospectively applied to take into account dual nationals currently in jail on terrorism convictions.

A separate review is looking into how the government would deal with second-generation Australians with sole nationality who are suspected of terrorism links.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team