Denmark strips man of citizenship for fighting for Islamic State

A Danish court on Friday stripped the citizenship of a 25-year-old former pizzeria owner who was convicted last year of fighting for Islamic State group (IS) in Syria.

The lawyer for the Danish-Turkish man - who during his trial denied fighting for IS but admitted working as a baker for the group in Syria - told broadcaster TV2 his client would appeal Friday's ruling.

The court order comes at a time of heightened security concerns in Europe in the wake of attacks in countries such as France, Germany and Britain.

Danish media identified the man Enes Ciftci, who was born and raised in Denmark. 

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Ciftci was originally sentenced to seven years in prison for allowing himself to be recruited in 2013 by IS to commit attacks in Syria, but allowed to keep his passport. Prosecutors appealed that sentence, leading to Friday's hearing.

Last year, Denmark's Supreme Court stripped a Danish-Moroccan bookseller Said Mansour of his citizenship after he was jailed for inciting terrorism. The 56-year-old dual national was convicted for instigating and promoting terrorism after posting social media messages in support of Al-Qaeda.

Mansour denies the charges and has mounted an appeal at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), according to Deutsche Welle.

If its recent judgements are anything to go by, Mansour may face an uphill struggle.

Earlier this month, the ECHR ruled that then-home secretary, Theresa May, who had revoked a man known as K2’s citizenship and barred him from entering the UK in 2010, had acted “swiftly and diligently, and in accordance with the law.”

The man had been born in Sudan but came to the UK as a child before becoming a naturalised citizen in 2000.

Orwellian measures?

K2 was accused of links to the Somali al-Shabab group but was in Sudan when his citizenship was removed. In the UK, only dual nationals can have their citizenship revoked.

Rights group have spoken out about the use of citizenship revocation measures in countering terrorism and the need to balance such measures with human rights concerns.

Amnesty International said in a report released earlier this year that countries across the EU are in a “race to the bottom” with “Orwellian” counter-terrorism laws.

The report’s recommendations for countries exercising citizenship stripping powers were to include: “a rigorous proportionality assessment taking into account the impact on the human rights of the individual” and “giving a person subjected to such a measure a meaningful right to appeal the stripping and the right.”