By Andrew Zammit
It’s not perfect by any means, but confiscating the passports of would-be terrorists may be the best option.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation often cancels the passports of suspected terrorists, and has increasingly done so to prevent Australians joining jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq. ASIO has issued adverse security assessments for more than 100 passports since 9/11, with over 60 cancellations in the past two years alone.
This tactic has occasionally been criticised on civil libertarian grounds, but has recently faced criticism from a different direction. Some commentators have argued that passport confiscations keep dangerous terrorists in Australia, and that it’d be better to let them leave and work to ensure they never return.
However, that approach would create bigger problems.
The first problem is preventing their return. Arresting someone who has trained with the Islamic State or Jabhat al-Nusra is far from simple. Intelligence is never perfect and security agencies won’t always know if someone returning from abroad has been involved with a terrorist group.
Even when there’s strong intelligence that a returning suspect has been recently involved with a terrorist group, it often won’t be possible to charge them. Gathering enough admissible evidence of their activities in Syria or Iraq to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt would be extraordinarily difficult, even with recent changes to Australia’s foreign evidence laws. ASIO currently estimates over twenty fighters have returned, none of whom have been charged.
Read the full story at The Diplomat