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Swedish terror convicts won’t have nationality stripped

Sweden's parliament has rejected a proposal of the far right to strip people convicted of terrorism of their nationality, as it voted in a new anti-terror law.

Swedish terror convicts won't have nationality stripped
A group of pro-Isis protesters in Iraq in 2014. Photo: TT/AP

The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats' put the bid to parliament on the same day that lawmakers in Paris voted in favour of a hotly contested measure to strip convicted terrorists of their French nationality.

But in Sweden, only the anti-migrant party's 45 lawmakers voted for the introduction of the amendment. Another 236 voted against, while 16 MPs from the Left Party abstained.

Meanwhile, Sweden's parliament adopted its new anti-terror law, which toughens existing legislation.

In a reference to jihadists linked to groups such as Isis going to war-torn Syria, the new law punishes those who travel abroad to join a terrorist group with two years in prison.

The law also stipulates those who undergo training to carry out a terrorist act must serve six years in jail, while those who finance a terrorist group must spend two years behind bars.

Those convicted of travelling to another country to seek training or to commit a terrorist act will also be handed two-year sentences.

Sweden's intelligence service Säpo has identified 292 people as having left Sweden since 2013 to join the Islamic State jihadist group, among them 133 who returned home.