Peter Dutton insists accused IS recruiter Neil Prakash is a dual Fijian citizen
The Home Affairs minister is standing by a decision to strip IS recruiter Neil Prakash of his Australian citizenship, despite speculation it’s left him stateless.
The 27-year-old who’s in jail in Turkey on terrorism charges has had his citizenship revoked because of his connections to Islamic State.
However, the attempt to strip Prakash of his Australian citizenship had been thrown into doubt.
Under current laws, a person with dual citizenship status can be stripped of Australian citizenship, if they engage in terrorism, but it can’t be revoked if they’d be left stateless.
The government says his father is Fijian, but according to immigration officials in Fiji, Prakash is not a citizen of the country.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton tells Luke Grant a board of senior security and department officials carefully considered whether Prakash was a foreign national.
“Australians don’t want these people back in our country.
“We’ve made a decision, we’re going to stand by the decision.
“From our perspective, he is an evil individual. He’s rotting at the moment in a Turkish jail, he’s not going anywhere for a long period of time.”
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