United States intelligence official calls for Australia to take jihadists home
The policy of stripping terrorists of their citizenships has been slammed by a senior US intelligence official, who says the jihadists are left free to “roam” Syrian war zones. He has called for Australia to take the disowned extremists back — and jail them at home.
National
Don't miss out on the headlines from National. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A senior US intelligence official has condemned Australia’s policy of stripping citizenship from terrorists, saying jihadists should instead be brought home and jailed.
The State Department official urged countries considering stripping citizenship to “think twice’’ and warned it could “increase the risk of re-engagement’’ with terror groups. He called on Australia and other US allies to repatriate, then prosecute and jail foreign fighters held in Syria.
The comments directly attack the government’s strategy of trying to keep terrorists away from Australia amid fears they cannot be rehabilitated, and comes days after a British terrorist killed two people in London after being released from jail halfway through a prison term.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saudi Arabia had stripped citizenship from Osama bin Laden, who later launched the 9/11 terror attacks that killed 3000 people.
“We don’t think that citizenship stripping is an effective way to prevent people returning to the battlefield,’’ he said. “In many ways removal of citizenship increases the risk of re-engagement.’’
The extraordinary public intervention from Australia’s greatest ally and fellow member of the Five Eyes intelligence pact comes as the US grows increasingly frustrated with the refusal by Australia and NATO allies to repatriate fighters and relatives held in jails and camps across the Middle East, mainly in Syria.
The comments follow concerns expressed by ASIO, which told a parliamentary committee in September that the 2015 citizen-stripping laws could make it more difficult to monitor terrorists.
“In some instances, citizenship cessation will curtail the range of threat mitigation capabilities available to Australian authorities,” ASIO told the powerful Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.
The committee report, and a related report on new laws making it even easier to strip citizenship, could be tabled in parliament this week.
High-level political talks between the US and Australia have so far failed to convince the government — which has revoked citizenship from at least 17 dual-national terrorists and their supporters — to bring its fighters home to face trial.
Up to 20 Australians who fought for or supported IS are held in makeshift prisons in northeast Syria, while several more are held in Turkey and at least one in Iraq.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said last year that he wanted terrorists dealt with “as far from our shores as possible’’.
But the official said those who lost their citizenship were “able to roam about in war zones without any country taking custody of them, bringing them home and prosecuting them”.
He said: “ The message that we have delivered to all of our allies and partners who have considered this step is: think twice because citizenship stripping is not as effective a way to prevent re-engagement as prosecution.’’
Asked if the US had raised its concerns at a high level with the Australian government, he replied: “I can’t go into the private diplomatic conversations that we have been having, or haven’t been having, with a close ally like Australia.
“But what we have said in public should remove any possible confusion or ambiguity about our policy. Repatriation and prosecution in countries of origin is the most effective way to prevent return to the battlefield.”
THE MEN WE MAY DISOWN
A number of Australian men held in makeshift prisons in Syria are dual nationals and could have their citizenship stripped.
Between 12 and 20 men are there, most of them captured at the fall of Baghouz in March, when the Syrian Democratic Forces overran Islamic State’s last redoubt north of the Euphrates River.
One of them, Moroccan-Australian Nabil Kadmiry, aged in his 40s, has had his citizenship revoked, according to his family.
Other dual nationals held in the Kurdish prisons include Majed Raad, a Lebanese-Australian from Melbourne who was charged but acquitted over the terror plot devised by hate preacher Abdul Nacer Benbrika almost 15 years ago.
Another man, who calls himself Jamil Ahmad Shqeir, told Kurdish journalists he was a Syrian-Australian who headed to Syria in 2013, joined extremist groups al-Nusra and al-Qaeda then became an interpreter for Islamic State foreign fighters in training camps.
All eight of the men interviewed by journalists have denied being fighters for IS but all admit travelling to Syria before or during the self-declared caliphate.
Most also admit taking on non-combat roles with the terrorist group.
While it is thought 17 Australians have had their citizenship revoked, only two have been officially confirmed — Neil Prakash, from Melbourne, who is in jail in Turkey, and Khaled Sharrouf, a terrorist from Sydney, before he was killed in Syria.
About 2000 foreign fighters are detained in crowded makeshift prisons in old schools and government buildings in the Kurdish-controlled area.
Others Australians there include: Mohammed Noor Masri, 26, of Sydney; Hamza Elbaf, 27, one of four Sydney brothers who went to Syria and says he worked as a cook for IS; and Ahmad Assad, 51, of Sydney, who travelled to Syria with a number of family members but says he “got stuck’’ while trying to extract his sons.
Two young men from Melbourne are also held there — former La Trobe University student Yusuf Yusuf, who claims he only cared for injured fighters, and Mahir Absar Alam, 26, who went to Syria in 2015 with three friends.
A senior US State Department official told the Herald Sun that Australia and all countries with citizens in Iraq and Syria should take them home and prosecute them.
AUSTRALIANS HELD IN PRISONS IN SYRIA
Jamil Ahmad Shqeir: A Syrian-Australian of unknown age, he left Australia in 2013 to join the jihad. He told Kurdish journalists he had joined groups including al-Nusra and al-Qaeda before becoming an interpreter for Islamic State foreign fighters in training camps in Syria.
Nabil Kadmiry: A Moroccan-Australian aged in his 40s, he travelled to Syria with his Melbourne-born wife. His family said his Australian citizenship has been stripped.
Mohammed Noor Masri: From Sydney, aged 26, he travelled to Syria in 2015.
Hamza Elbaf: One of four Sydney brothers who went to Syria in 2014, Elbaf, 27, was presumed dead until North Press Agency found him in a Kurdish prison. He claimed to have been a cook for Islamic State, and said he wanted to return to Australia, but not if he was to be handed a lengthy prison sentence.
Ahmad Assad: The 51-year-old from Sydney claims he travelled to Syria to get his sons out, but “got stuck”.
RELATED NEWS
LONDON BRIDGE ATTACK RESPONDER ‘NOT A HERO’
FIRST VICTIM OF LONDON TERROR ATTACK IDENTIFIED
FED SQUARE JIHAD PLOTTERS JAILED FOR DECADES
Yusuf Yusuf: The former La Trobe University student from Melbourne spent five years with the group including in Raqqa but claims he only looked after injured fighters. He posted vile images on social media of a Jordanian pilot being set alight.
Mahir Absar Alam: The former Melbourne student, now aged about 26, went to Syria in 2015 with three friends. He denies being a fighter and says he worked in an Islamic State hospital.
Majed Raad: Lebanese-Australian man from Melbourne who was charged but acquitted over the terror plot devised by hate preacher Abdul Nacer Benbrika almost 15 years ago, for which a number of his family members were convicted. Others died in Syria.
Hicham Zahab: A Sydney man, one of numerous members of the Zahab family who travelled from Sydney to Syria. He is wanted in Australia and Kuwait on terrorism-related offences.
Originally published as United States intelligence official calls for Australia to take jihadists home
Cops suspect foul play in 2009 disappearance
A man’s family reported him missing 12 years after the last apparent sighting, and now police suspect foul play.
‘Get out’: Urgent warning to Aussies
Australians in Lebanon are facing urgent calls to “get out” as the conflict in the Middle East continues to escalate.