The Australian government has stripped citizenship from a man it believes is a top recruiter for ISIS, Australia's home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, said on Saturday.
Dutton said Melbourne-born Neil Prakash had been central to ISIS’ efforts in the Middle East, was "a very dangerous individual" and had his citizenship stripped.
"If given the opportunity Mr. Prakash would harm or kill Australians and our country is a safer place for him having lost his Australian citizenship," Dutton said in a televised news conference.
Prakash has been in Turkey on trial for terrorism-related activities since being caught there in October 2016 after leaving ISIS-controlled territory.
He is wanted in Australia over terrorism-related activities including an alleged plot to behead a police officer.
Under Australia's citizenship laws, a dual national can lose their Australian citizenship if they act contrary to their allegiance to Australia by choosing to be involved in terrorism.
Prakash, whose mother was Cambodian and father was Fijian, held both Australian and Fijian citizenship through his father.
Dutton said Australia's internal spy agency the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) had thwarted 14 attempted attacks including a plan to smuggle explosives onto an A380 flight to the Middle East.
"The threat is very real," he said.
"The priority for us is to make sure that people like Neil Prakash don’t come back to Australia. We don’t want them here."
