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French Lawmakers Vote to Strip Terrorists of Nationality

© AFP 2023 / Loic VenancePeople pass by a miniature Eiffel Tower displayed at the COP21, the United Nations conference on climate at Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris on December 3, 2015.
People pass by a miniature Eiffel Tower displayed at the COP21, the United Nations conference on climate at Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris on December 3, 2015. - Sputnik International
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France's national assembly has preliminarily approved a new constitutional measure that would make it possible to strip convicted terrorists of French citizenship.

The proposed constitutional amendment was passed yesterday with a narrow majority of 162 to 148 votes (with 22 lawmakers abstaining).

French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira blowing a kiss as she leaves the Elysee Palace on a bicycle after a meeting in Paris March 13, 2014. - Sputnik International
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Yesterday's vote followed months of negotiations and clashes over the highly controversial measure, which has opened rifts even within President Francois Hollande's socialist majority.

Former socialist prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has openly spoken out against the amendment, while Justice minister Christiane Taubira resigned in late January over her opposition to it.

Still, the proposal, which is part of a larger constitutional reform package put forward in the wake of the November 13 Paris attacks has substantial support among the French population — and was also greenlit by Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right Republican Party.

A paragraph that made the law applicable only to dual nationals born in France was eventually edited out from the proposal. But as international law forbids any country from leaving citizens stateless, it is assumed that dual nationals convicted of terror crimes will still be the main targets.

© AFP 2023 / KENZO TRIBOUILLARDFrench soldiers patrol outside Notre Dame de Paris cathedral as part of the Operation Sentinelle in Paris, on December 30, 2015
French soldiers patrol outside Notre Dame de Paris cathedral as part of the Operation Sentinelle in Paris, on December 30, 2015 - Sputnik International
French soldiers patrol outside Notre Dame de Paris cathedral as part of the Operation Sentinelle in Paris, on December 30, 2015

For the amendment to be fully implemented it will have to be formally approved — together with the rest of the reform — by a three fifths majority in Congress in another vote, slated for today.

Hollande's prime minister Manuel Valls told France24 that he thought the constitutional changes would be voted through and said that the menace of terrorism in France was "without doubt more serious than before November 13."

In the same session yesterday, lawmakers also decided to extend France's current state of emergency by three additional months, signalling that the country is still shaken by last year's attacks, and it is going to keep on with its hardline approach.

France is not the first country to have envisioned a legal way of removing citizens' — who have been convicted of terrorism — nationalities.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott - Sputnik International
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Australia to Strip Dual Nationals Engaged in Terrorism of Citizenship
In fact, Australia already passed a similar measure in December 2015, in a bid to counter the surge in Australia-based jihadist fighters traveling to Syria. The bill was also seen as a reaction to a 2014 attack in Sydney thought to have been inspired by Daesh rhetoric.

Australia's legislation, unlike France's, made it explicit that only dual nationals would be stripped of Australian citizenship if convicted — or suspected- of terrorist offenses, with the Australian attorney general saying it would apply only "in very limited circumstances."

Similar measures were also floated in the UK, where Home Secretary Theresa May suggested stripping pro-Daesh militants and preachers of their British passports. So far, though, no such legislation has been discusssed.

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