Danish woman gets passport revoked for fighting IS

Joanna Palani fought on behalf of Kurdish armed forces in Iraq

The police have revoked the passport of a Danish woman who travelled to fight against the jihadist organisation Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.

Joanna Palani, who has Kurdish roots, has been banned from leaving Denmark for a year because she fought IS on behalf of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

“She is part of the official armed Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq and thus part of the allied coalition, which Denmark supports in the fight against IS,” Palani’s lawyer Thorkild Høyer, said according to Metroxpress newspaper.

READ MORE: Danish police pull passport of suspected ‘foreign fighter’

New law
A number of Danish citizens, suspected of intending to travel to Syria or Iraq to take part in the ongoing armed conflict in the region, have had their passports revoked since the law changed in March 1 this year.

Unlike Palani, however, the vast majority were suspected of wanting to fight on behalf of IS.

“As a Kurd, woman and human being, it’s difficult for me to sit on the sofa at home in safe Denmark while my people are being ethnically cleansed,” Palani told Information.

The police can revoke a person’s passport if they have reason to believe that the said person’s actions are a danger to state security.

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