Social security benefit, student loan ban looms for Dutch jihadis

Ministers have finalised legislation which will stop people who join terrorist organisations in Iraq or Syria being given social security benefits and student loans, the Telegraaf says on Wednesday.

Social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher hopes the move will remove a potential source of income for jihadis and make youngsters think twice about joining terrorist organisations, the paper says.

The new law, which introduces an immediate ban on payments, will also affect women who travel to Syria and Iraq to marry jihadis. Current rules to stop payments take too long to apply, the Telegraaf says.

Returnees will be entitled to claim benefits, which Asscher hopes will improve their reintegration into normal society.

The draft legislation will be sent to the Council of State advisory body this autumn and will then be discussed in parliament.

The Telegraaf does not say how many of the 190 people who have left the Netherlands for Iraq or Syria were claiming benefits or were officially classed as students.