Khaled Sharrouf stripped of citizenship under anti-terror laws

The government has used anti-terrorism laws for the first time to strip IS terrorist Khaled Sharrouf of his citizenship.

Khaled Sharrouf.

Islamic State terrorist Khaled Sharrouf has become the first Australian to be stripped of citizenship after the Turnbull government ­invoked anti-­terrorism laws.

The Weekend Australian can reveal a secret panel of intelligence ­officers, police, bureaucrats and lawyers revoked Sharrouf’s Australian citizenship earlier this year.

The 35-year-old, who gained global notoriety after he posted a picture of his young son holding aloft the severed head of a Syrian government official in 2014, was the first target of wide-ranging, anti-terrorism powers passed by parliament in 2015.

Those powers allow the Immigration Minister to strip a person of Australian citizenship if it can be demonstrated they were members of a terrorist group, engaged in ­terrorist-related conduct or were convicted of certain terrorist ­offences.

However, the sanction applies only to dual nationals, as Australia is a signatory to international conventions that forbid it from rendering people stateless.

National security sources familiar with the move say the decision to target Sharrouf was based on his demonstrated association with ­Islamic State, a terrorist organisation he joined in 2014.

It is understood the Citizenship Loss Board handed over its ­material on Sharrouf and the minister declared his citizenship voided earlier this year.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton declined to comment.

Sharrouf, the son of Lebanese migrants, must now rely on his Lebanese citizenship, should he wish to leave the conflict zone.

Sharrouf travelled to Syria in late 2013 with his friend, fellow Sydney man Mohamed Elomar. Both joined Islamic State and during the northern summer of 2014 cut a bloody swath across Syria and northern Iraq as Islamic State stormed across the border.

Elomar, who married Sharrouf’s eldest daughter, Zaynab, now 15, and fathered a daughter, Ayesha, with her, was killed in 2015 by a drone strike in the Syrian city of Raqqa, declared the “capital’’ of the Islamic State’s self-­proclaimed caliphate.

Both men gleefully documented their escapades on Twitter and Facebook, frequently posting pictures of themselves with severed heads or, in one case, video of themselves participating in the mass execution of Iraqi officials in the desert near Mosul.

Although the laws cover only conduct that has occurred since the legislation passed, the public, brazen nature of Sharrouf’s activities is likely to have been a reason intelligence officials targeted him with the powers, which are sure to be tested in the courts.

The decision to strip Sharrouf of his citizenship is not without complications.

Sharrouf was jailed for almost four years in Australia over his ­involvement in the 2004 Pendennis terrorist conspiracy.

Operation Pendennis uncovered a terror ­network led by Melbourne cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika. He and seven Melbourne followers were found guilty in 2009 of planning an attack in Australia. Nine men in Sydney were implicated in the plot, with five found guilty of planning the attack and four others pleading guilty to lesser charges.

In 2013, Sharrouf travelled to Syria, followed by his wife, Tara Nettleton, and their five children.

Nettleton has since died but the fate of the couple’s children remains unknown. The Sharrouf children, all of whom are Australian citizens, are among dozens of children thought to be in Syria or Iraq, who were either taken from Australia into Syria by their parents or have been born to local women and fathered by Aus­tralian jihadis.

Iraqi media outlets reported last year that Sharrouf was one of a handful of Australians killed in a US bombing strike in Mosul. However, the reports were unconfirmed and Sharrouf is known to have cheated death on several occasions.

Australian Federal Police have an active arrest warrant out on Sharrouf.

There are about 110 Australians thought to be fighting in Syria and Iraq, almost all of whom are fighting with Islamic State. Mr Dutton has said publicly more than 100 Australians could be in line for this sanction.