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Germany to change ID law to combat terrorism

Xinhua, January 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

The German cabinet agreed Wednesday to make necessary changes to Germany's identity card law to combat international terrorism.

The new law is aimed at stopping people from leaving Germany to fight for terror groups in conflict regions. Potential extremists affected by the law would have their ID card confiscated and replaced with a new one that does not allow them to travel outside Germany.

German authorities are already allowed to confiscate the passports of people suspected of having terrorist connections. But many German citizens who have gone to fight in conflict zones have reportedly traveled via Turkey using only their national ID card to cross borders.

German officials estimated that more than 500 Germans had made their way to Syria and Iraq since 2012 to fight alongside terror groups, including the Islamic State, raising fears of attacks on home soil when they return.

"At least 180 people have returned to Germany from Syria and Iraq," Hans-Georg Maassen, head of German Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution, told German media on Sunday. "A large part of them may have been radicalized and brutalized."

The chief of Germany's domestic intelligence agency warned of the continuing risk of terror attacks in Germany and called for closer cooperation among intelligence services in order to achieve an effective monitoring of those returnees. Endit