These pressures prompted European countries, led by Britain, to search for ways to deal with this file within the framework of enacting new regulations and laws that preserve their national security, given the concerns related to the return of foreign fighters to their homelands.
In the context of these moves, the British government recently announced the submission of a bill to update an earlier law that would give the Ministry of the Interior the power to withdraw citizenship from such fighters without warning.
Reactions inside Britain
The proposal faced sharp criticism within Britain, where some jurists and jurists described the move as a “blatant violation” of the rights of people subject to this law on the one hand, and an expansion of the powers of the British Interior on the other.
And fears increased inside Britain about the text, especially since the proposed amendment completely removes the need to completely notify citizens, in addition to allowing its retroactive application to all cases to which the law applies and has already been stripped of citizenship earlier without notice.
On the other hand, the British Interior confirmed that stripping a person of citizenship is a right for the authorities to implement against those who pose a threat to the country, stressing that British citizenship is not an inherent right but rather a privilege.
The law to strip citizenship from the British dates back to 2005, when the authority was granted to the British Interior to strip citizens who were proven to be involved in terrorist operations after the London bombings in the same year, and gradually the government expanded the use of the law between 2010 and 2014, and the person’s notice of withdrawal of citizenship became By placing a copy in his personal file in case he is in an unknown location.
decision motives
The past two years have witnessed cases of withdrawal of citizenship from British male and female fighters who joined the ranks of the “ISIS” organization. A British female fighter in the ranks of the organization, present in Roj camp, northeastern Syria, learned last year that she had been stripped of her citizenship without warning because the British authorities could not inform her of the matter a year ago.
Since 2014, Britain has resorted to this step for fear of spreading an extremist ideology in British society if fighters return again, as it revoked citizenship from 21 people in 2018, 104 others in 2017, and about 23 people between 2014 and 2016.
The British judiciary also issued a decision against a girl named Shamima Begum who joined ISIS 4 years ago, preventing her from entering the country and withdrawing her citizenship on charges of joining a terrorist organization.
Begum’s story is similar to British Jack Letts, who holds dual British and Canadian citizenship, and London stripped him of his citizenship for his involvement in the fight with ISIS in Syria.
The director of the European Center for Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Studies, Jassim Muhammad, believes that the reasons that prompted Britain to take the step to amend the law to withdraw citizenship came as a result of the criticism leveled against it in the human rights file regarding foreign fighters, given that stripping citizenship is inconsistent with the British constitution and judiciary.
In statements to “Sky News Arabia”, Muhammad explained that the law does not allow a person to be without a nationality, or to be stripped of his nationality, except in the case of dual nationals.
Despite Britain’s constant support for its citizens detained in the former strongholds of ISIS, where about 40 percent of the fighters returned from them, British non-governmental organizations indicated the presence of 25 Britain and about 34 children in camps in Syria, directing the British authorities to charges of abandoning them after Refusal to receive families and deprive its citizens of citizenship.
step semantics
The director of the European Center for Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Studies indicates that the British government’s decision bears indications related to the current timing of the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the camps in northeastern Syria, where Britain leads, alongside France, the list of European countries whose citizens have joined ISIS.
The terrorist organization includes in its ranks nearly 900 British citizens in both Syria and Iraq.
Muhammad points out that the step “contains an indication of Britain’s desire to restore all fighters of British nationality who are in camps and camps in Iraq and Syria, so the amendment regarding the possibility of withdrawing citizenship without warning to achieve national security is among new measures that the British government intends to take to combat terrorism and extremism in the event of receive its citizens from the fighters.
Regarding the fate of foreign fighters in light of the recent measures, Muhammad stressed that European laws and constitutions “provide the need for European countries to restore all their citizens from fighters,” suggesting that the currently proposed British law will favor the fighters present in Syria positively, and countries review the file and move towards a scenario Repatriation of its citizens under procedures that guarantee the preservation of its national security.
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