Australia to revoke citizenship of terrorists with dual nationalities

Australia will modify a law to revoke the citizenship of convicted terrorists with dual nationalities, irrespective of the severity of their sentence, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday.

Morrison and Interior Minister Peter Dutton announced the changes at a joint press conference here, reports Efe news.

"We'll do everything we can to stay ahead of the evolving threat of terrorism to keep Australians safe," Morrison said.

Under current law, citizenship can only be revoked for people convicted of terrorism if they were sentenced to at least seven years in prison.

The announcement comes two weeks after a terror attack in Melbourne's Central Business District, in which a Somali-born Australian man born crashed his vehicle before attacking passers-by with a knife, killing one person and injuring two others.

"Our changes will make it easier to strip terrorists of their Australian citizenship. Terrorists forfeit their rights to be Australians when they carry out their evil acts", Morrison said.

Dutton said that nine people have had their citizenship revoked for their ties to foreign terrorist groups under a law which was introduced in 2015.

The government also wants to implement a Temporary Exclusion Orders plan granting powers to delay, monitor and control the return of Australian foreign fighters from the Middle East.

Australian authorities elevated the terror alert level in September 2014, and since then have approved a series of laws to prevent terror incidents.

The country has suffered four violent attacks since then, while more than a dozen plans have been foiled, resulting in the arrest of more than 70 people.

--IANS

ksk/sed