Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott in the White House, Washington, D.C., on June 12, 2014. On May 19, 2015, Abbott rejected the idea of amnesty for Australian citizens who have gone abroad to fight with extremist groups but now wish to return home. UPI/Ron Sachs/Pool |
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SYDNEY, May 19 (UPI) -- Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday rejected the idea of amnesty for returning citizens who traveled to fight with militant groups.
"A crime is a crime is a crime," the BBC quoted Abbott as saying on Tuesday. "If you go abroad to break Australian law, if you go abroad to kill innocent people in the name of misguided fundamental extremism, if you go abroad to be an Islamist killer, well, we are hardly going to welcome you back into this country."
The comments were in response to three Australian men in negotiations to return from Syria, where they are alleged to have been working with al-Qaida's Nusra Front.
Lawyer Rob Stary, who represents one of the men, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation his client worked as a medic in areas controlled by the Free Syrian Army and the Nusra Front, and that he had his passport revoked as soon as he traveled to Syria. He is now disillusioned and wishes to return to Australia and preach against extremism, Stary said, adding that his client could not do so currently for fear "he would be vulnerable to being charged."
The Australian government estimates at least 90 of its citizens are illegally fighting with jihad groups in the Middle East. Problems with Islamist extremism in Australia --especially among segments of the nation's youth -- has been well-publicized over the past year.
Last month, Australian authorities arrested five men, aged between 18 and 19, who were planning to attack a veterans day parade.
In March, two boys, age 16 and 17, were intercepted at the Sydney airport on their way to the Middle East to join the Islamic State, police say.
In February, Australian authorities charged two men, age 24 and 25, with planning a terrorist attack after finding in their Sydney home a homemade IS flag, a machete, a hunting knife and a video of one of the men making threats.
In January the Australian government raised its threat level for police to "high" following a December incident in which an Iranian man took hostages at a chocolate shop in Sydney, forcing people within to hold up what appeared to be an Islamic flag. The gunman and two hostages died when police eventually stormed the shop.
Last October Australian authorities were criticized by civil right proponents for tightening security and surveillance laws in the country.
The month prior, 15 people were arrested in counter-terrorism raids in Brisbane and Sydney after intelligence indicated a senior IS member, who is also an Australian citizen, had instructed supporters to conduct "demonstration killings" in the country.
Earlier that summer, the Australian government confirmed one of its 18-year-old citizens was responsible for a suicide bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, on July 17. At the time, Australian Attorney General George Brandis expressed concern that Australian foreign fighters could pose "a significant domestic security threat to Australia when those involved return home and seek to pursue violence here."
In December 2014, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that IS forces executed 116 foreign fighters who tried returning home after coming from outside Syria to join the group.
