Dutton: Extremist hasn’t been left stateless

Australian officials insist a suspected militant has not been left stateless after he was stripped of his Australian citizenship over his alleged links to Isis (Islamic State).

Australia announced at the weekend that Australian-born Neil Prakash had become the 12th dual national to lose his Australian citizenship for extremist links.

But a newspaper reported yesterday that a Fijian government official had said the 27-year-old was not a citizen of Fiji.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said an Australian board of senior officials had determined Prakash was a dual Australian-Fijian national before he lost his Australian citizenship.

“The Government has been in close contact with the government of Fiji since Mr Prakash was determined to have lost his citizenship,” he said.

Prakash, who has Fijian and Cambodian parents, has been in a Turkish prison since 2016 when he was arrested near the Syrian border for allegedly attempting to cross with false documents.

Australia is demanding Turkey extradite Prakash, who faces allegations of inciting a terror plot in his home state of Victoria. However, the extradition will have to wait until the conclusion of Turkey’s criminal proceedings against Prakash, who has admitted being a member of Isis but has denied having anything to do with the extremists in Australia.