Australia cancels passport of Queensland teen stuck in Syria

Mashable ^ | Feb. 28, 2016 | Ariel Bogle

[bgill]

An Australian teenager who travelled to Syria has had his passport cancelled by the government, according to his lawyer. Oliver Bridgeman, from Toowoomba in Queensland, was reported missing by his parents in March 2015 after they thought he was spending time in Bali. Instead, the teenager journeyed on to war-torn Syria where his lawyer said he had been engaged in humanitarian work... Immigration Minister Peter Dutton defended the government's decision, telling ABC News those who travel to Syria put Australia's military staff and personnel at risk... The government has the power to cancel an Australian passport when a person "might prejudice the security of Australia or a foreign country."

[bgill]

Australia puts its security above some little twiddle head who's up to who knows what. The US should do the same.

[Gaffer]

The bearded little wannabe Muslim went there to get trained and then come back home to Jihad some unsuspecting Australian citizens in my book. Let him ROT there.

[ClearCase_guy]

I love Australia.

[Iron Munro]

The bearded little wannabe Muslim went there to get trained and then come back home to Jihad some unsuspecting Australian citizens in my book.

Humanitarian work = learning how to kill non-muslims.

[Gaffer]

Exactly....go look at his picture. That’s all you need to decide.

[grumpygresh]

I would think that 0bama would cancel the passport of an American doing Christian humanitarian and/or missionary work abroad.

If a government does cancel a passport, does that mean that that person may not re-enter his home country? I would guess that in this instance that Australia would let him back in and prosecute him.

If such a person could not re-enter his home country, is there any responsibility for any government to take in a person in this circumstance?

[Newfy]

And now another smart-alec steals a North Korean flag from a hotel there as a souvenir and gets caught and is jailed. What’s it gonna take to get him back?

[usurper]

If a government does cancel a passport, does that mean that that person may not re-enter his home country?

It means he can't get on a common carrier such as a plane or ship because they check passports before departure.

Since he can't walk to Australia he is basically banished.

[naturalman1975]

Since he can't walk to Australia he is basically banished.

Not quite. He still has the option to walk into an Australian embassy or consulate and surrender to Australian authorities - his nearest option is in Turkey. If he does that, he is likely to be issued a limited validity travel document which will allow him to travel to Australia, but nowhere else. He would, of course, be questioned as to his activities in Syria - which he claims simply involve working for a charity.

If he does not believe he has committed any crimes under Australian law, that is his best option. It may still be his best option even if he has committed crimes under Australian law.

Frankly, I think the reason the Australian government has done this may at least partly to try and get a dumb kid out of a bad situation. By forcing him to head for an Australian consulate.