National Party leader Judith Collins says Suhayra Aden is a terrorist for marrying into the Islamic State death cult, and poor old New Zealanders are left to pick up the pieces.
Aden, a New Zealand citizen, was detained with her two children in Turkey in February, having crossed the Syrian border. Turkey alleged she was a wanted Islamic State, or Isis, terrorist, and intended to deport her to New Zealand.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday announced the Government had agreed with Turkey on a managed return of Aden and her two children. Ardern gave absolute assurances that all possible measures had been taken to ensure New Zealanders would be safe but would not detail the arrangements were in place for legal reasons.
Collins, who as Opposition leader has had national security briefings on Aden, said she was clearly a risk and it was yet to be seen whether the security arrangements were sufficient.
Mother of two Suhayra Aden is a dual New Zealand-Australian citizen who last lived in New Zealand as a six-year-old, before departing for Australia then, almost two decades later, Syria.
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I don’t know that you can ever protect yourself against the hatred and vile ideology of something like the Isis death cult, she said.
There is a risk of spreading an evil ideology, that is absolutely committed to a death cult and the end of Western civilization … I don’t know what other threat she is but clearly the spreading of ideology of that sort is extremely harmful to New Zealand.
Ardern has avoided saying Adens name and has not called her a terrorist. Collins said the woman was absolutely a terrorist, and she repeatedly called Aden a jihadi bride a politicised term which has frustrated New Zealands Muslim community for damaging the publics perception of them, and Islam.
We feel very sorry for those children. Who knows what they’ve experienced in life already. They’ve got a mother who chose to leave Australia to go and join a jihadist death cult, and be part of that and be a jihadi bride and she managed to do that three times, she said.
I actually am just staggered that there is anything other than poor old New Zealanders left to pick up the pieces and the Australians basically moved very fast when they saw an opportunity to take off her citizenship and leave us with the mess.
I’m not feeling very happy about the way that Australia has behaved. And I feel very sorry for the people in New Zealand who are going to have to try and make something of this woman’s life and her children.
Aden was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia as a six-year-old. After she travelled to Syria in 2014, Australia stripped her of citizenship for joining the extremist group.
National Party leader Judith Collins. (file photo)
Collins said New Zealand should consider bringing in legislation comparable to Australias, that would allow the Government to strip a person of their citizenship in such cases.
We should consider whether or not we actually go ahead with it is another matter … We should ever debate with New Zealanders about what we’re prepared to accept as a country, she said.
Hers is a different case because she was born here. But when we look at people who are not born here, come here and become citizens and pledge allegiance to New Zealand what if they can that’s very serious offences, should they be a provision to enable the citizenship to be removed?
Ardern on Tuesday said that two wrongs dont make a right, and it would have been wrong to strip Adens citizenship as Australia did.
She said the safety of the community would be top of mind upon Adens return.
“There’s certain things I’m required by law to say or not say. Instead, all I can give us the assurance that we have done everything that we should be doing in order to protect the New Zealand community as we facilitate the return of a New Zealand citizen.
