Through dropping off citizenship, Australia responds to escalating terrorists

Ahmed Lamlom

An Australian court sentenced a supporter of a terrorist organization to 38 years in prison on Friday November 24, 2018 for helping an Iranian teenager, Farhad Jabbar, in killing a man in front of a police station in Sydney in 2015 and helping Jabbar’s sister to travel to Syria to join Daesh.

Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, sought to strip those convicted of terrorism of Australian citizenship and introduced the bill last Thursday at a press conference. “Individuals who commit terrorist acts have absolutely rejected everything that this country represents.”

The Australian government applied in 2015 a law allowing stripping persons of Australian nationality, since they were dual nationals, but the latest amendment, which the Prime Minister wants to introduce to parliament early next month, allows stripping people born in Australia of nationality.

Australia is studying the withdrawal of citizenship from nearly 50 people who have traveled to war zones in the Middle East to join terrorist organizations there, primarily Daesh terrorist group.

Australian police say their vigilance has helped thwart at least 12 terrorist plots, including an attack planned for downtown Melbourne during the Christmas holiday.

Over the past few weeks, Australia witnessed attempts by extremists to launch terrorist attacks. Three men of Turkish origin were arrested last Tuesday as they were plotting a large-scale terrorist operation.

The police said that the three men were known to the authorities and their passports were revoked because of fears that they will travel to Syria and Iraq to join Daesh.

An Islamist militant of Somali origin, Hassan Khalif, succeeded in carrying out a stabbing operation in the center of Melbourne, the second largest city in the country, killing one person and injuring two others.

Daesh said in a statement published by its Amaq agency that it is responsible for the attack, describing its perpetrator as one of its fighters. It added that the attacking cane in response to Australia’s participation in the international coalition, which succeeded in its defeat in cooperation with the Syrian and Iraqi forces.

However, Australia ended its air strikes against Daesh in Iraq and Syria late last year after three years of involvement in the US-led coalition, making its recent targeting as part of the international coalition questionable.