Denmark can withdraw foreign fighters’ citizenship more easy

The Danish government now has the authority to withdraw the citizenship of jihadists who’ve traveled abroad to fight for militant jihadist groups.

The new law gives the country’s immigration minister the authority to revoke the passports of citizens who’ve joined foreign terrorist organizations by simply informing the terrorist of the decision via the internet, Danish newspaper Extra Bladet reports.

The law was passed on Thursday by a majority in the parliament. MPs from the Conservatives, the New Civil and Liberal Alliance voted in favor of the bill, while the Social Liberals, the Red-Green Alliance, and the Alternative voted against it. SF abstained from the vote.

In recent years, close to 150 people have left Demark for the Middle East to join various militant jihadist groups, according to the Danish Police Intelligence Services (PET).

Many of them are thought to be hanging around the region, despite the Islamic State having lost most of its territory. About 50 others have returned to Denmark. Over a dozen have been indicted on various charges.

The new law is mainly directed at citizens who’ve gone off to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and gives Mattias Tesfaye, Denmark’s Immigration Minister, the ability to strip ‘foreign fighters’ of their Danish citizenship without a trial, while they’re still abroad.

Those who are stripped of their passports will have four weeks to appeal the decision. However, due to several objections, the new law includes a clause that allows some leniency if the four-week deadline is unable to be met.

“It will be viewed as being that if you can’t appeal on time, you will be able to exceed the four-week deadline and it will ultimately be a judge that decides whether it was out of your control to appeal by the deadline”, Tesfaye said.

Parliament will hold a vote in 2021 to determine whether the law be re-confirmed.

“We will then be in a situation where we can assess whether the law has worked. Perhaps there will be a need for little adjustments,” Tesfaye said.

The bill will apply only to dual nationals so as not to make anyone stateless.