Germany to revoke citizenship of terrorist fighters

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition partners agreed on a draft legislation to revoke citizenships of dual citizens who would travel abroad to fight for Daesh or any other terrorist group, officials said on Monday.

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference in Berlin that the new legislation would apply to dual nationals who would join a terrorist organization and participate in combat actions abroad.

Interior Ministry’s spokeswoman Eleonore Petermann said the legal amendments would only apply to future cases, due to constitutional and legal requirements.

But she expressed hope that it would have a “preventive effect”.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats recently pushed for legal changes to expatriate dual nationals who had already travelled to Syria and joined Daesh.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump called on Germany and other European countries to take back their nationals after more than 800 foreign terrorist fighters captured in Syria.

But leading German politicians refused Trump’s suggestion, citing legal hurdles and expressing their security concerns.

Among those held in prisons in northern Syria, at least 60 Daesh fighters travelled to the region from Germany and around 40 of them had German passports, according to the local media.