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France Approves Bill to Prevent Potential Jihadists From Travelling Abroad

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The French parliament has approved a bill that aims to prevent potential terrorists from travelling abroad, in particular to Iraq and Syria.

MOSCOW, September 17 (RIA Novosti) - The French parliament has approved a bill that aims to prevent potential terrorists from travelling abroad, in particular to Iraq and Syria.

According to the new law, the travel ban could be imposed, "where there are serious reasons to believe that someone is planning to travel abroad to take part in terrorist activities, war crimes or crimes against humanity or in a theatre of operations of terrorist groups and in conditions likely to jeopardize public security upon their return to French territory."

If French authorities believe that someone should be placed under the order, then this individual would have their passport and identity card confiscated for six months.

According to French Interior Ministry, 930 French citizens have been travelling to and from Iraq and Syria recently, and many of them are suspected in fighting for terrorist organizations there, such as the Islamic State (IS). At least 36 French citizens have been killed overseas over the past few months.

The move echoes a statement made by British Prime Minister David Cameron earlier this month that the United Kingdom was actively looking at additional specific powers that would allow the authorities to ban British jihadist suspects from returning home.

Earlier this week, the Spanish parliament also proposed to introduce a new law that would equate its citizens' involvement in armed conflicts abroad to the acts of terrorism.

In June, Ottawa officials were granted new powers to strip Canadian citizenship from dual nationals who engage in acts of terrorism or fight against the country"s military abroad.

Last week, several US congressmen also proposed revoking passports of citizens found to be fighting for the militant groups abroad.

Several hundred individuals from the United States and Canada, as well as over 500 Britons and many other foreign nationals are believed to be fighting for the IS, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS or ISIL), an al-Qaeda offshoot that initially was fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assad and in June launched a large-scale offensive in Iraq, seizing large parts of the country.

In June, the group proclaimed an Islamic caliphate over its conquered regions and claimed religious authority over all Muslims globally.

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