CANBERRA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has declared that Australia is "pussyfooting" around the role radical Islamism is playing in causing terrorism, and has called for a "special court" to be created specifically to deal with returning Australian Islamic State (IS) fighters.
Penning a piece in News Corp newspapers on Thursday, the former Prime Minister said that returning foreign fighters were getting away with traveling to and from conflict zones such as in the Middle East due to a loophole in current Australian law.
Abbott said that just two Islamist extremists have been charged in Australian courts despite dozens returning to Australia from Iraq and Syria over the last few years - something recently made illegal by the government.
He argued that a new courts system needed to be created in order to deal specifically with Australian jihadis who had abandoned their country to join the fight with Islamic State, saying too many extremists were putting Sharia law before Australian law.
"The only safe jihadi is one who's been lawfully killed, lawfully imprisoned or thoroughly converted from Islamism," Abbott said in News Corp papers.
"We need to ensure that every returning jihadi can readily be charged and convicted, possibly through the creation of special courts that can hear evidence that may not normally be admissible."
"We pussyfoot around the fact many passages of the Muslim holy book command things that are completely incompatible with modern western life, and even justify terrorism."
