Islamic State combatant Khaled Sharrouf has become the first dual national to be stripped of his Australia citizenship under a 2015 anti-terrorism law, local media reported Saturday.
Australia authorities recently evoked the law for the first time ever, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton acknowledged Saturday, which gives the government the authority to strip the citizenship of dual nationals suspected of terrorism.
The government declined to name the individual affected, but the Australian newspaper identified the person as Sharrouf, the son of Lebanese immigrants and an infamous member of the Islamic State terror group.
Sharrouf, 35, traveled to Syria in late 2013 prior to joining the Islamic State the following year, the newspaper reported. He gained notoriety in August 2014 after tweeting a photograph that showed his 7-year-old son holding the head of a slain Syrian soldier.
“That’s my boy!” he reportedly captioned the image.
Australia implemented a law in 2015, the Allegiance to Australia Act, which lets the government strip citizenship from dual-nationals suspected or convicted of carrying out military acts or joining banned organizations. Mr. Dutton named the Islamic State afterwards as the first group affected by the law, and said it was “both engaging in acts of terrorism and is opposed to Australia and its interests.”
A secret panel of intelligence officers, law enforcement members, government officials and attorneys agreed earlier this year to cancel Sharrouf’s Australian citizenship, the Guardian reported Saturday, in turn leaving the former-Aussie with only his Lebanese nationality.
Unconfirmed reports have previously suggested Sharrouf was killed in an U.S-led airstrike, though Australia’s federal authorities maintain an active warrant for his arrest, The Australian reported.
Around 110 Australians are currently believed to be fighting in Syria and Iraq, the newspaper reported, the majority of whom are thought to be involved with the Islamic State.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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