Australia’s peak body for lawyers says the “premature” announcement that Islamic State member Neil Prakash has been stripped of his citizenship could jeopardise efforts to see him face justice in this country.

Law Council of Australia president Arthur Moses, SC, has said that Turkey - where Prakash is currently in jail facing terrorism charges - would take into account whether or not he was an Australian in considering an extradition request.

“I am troubled that this potentially premature announcement by the Minister could jeopardise future extradition proceedings to bring Prakash back to Australia to face our justice system for his alleged crimes,” he said.

Melbourne-born Neil Prakash is the son of a Fijian father and Cambodian mother AAP

His assessment came as Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama deepened doubts about Prakash’s citizenship of that country - and therefore the legality of the Morrison government’s revocation of Prakash’s Australian citizenship - by saying that Prakash could not return to Fiji “because he does not qualify”.

Mr Moses said the questions swirling around the Prakash case underlined concerns the Law Council had raised when the law allowing terrorists to be stripped of their citizenship was passed in 2015.

In particular, it showed problems with the “automatic” nature of the revocation. Under the law, a person automatically forfeits their own citizenship when they engage in terrorist activity, meaning no actual decision or judgment by the government or a court is required.

“If Prakash is in fact not a Fijian citizen, this raises serious questions regarding the automatic loss of citizenship under Australian law which requires a person to be a national or citizen of a country other than Australia,” Mr Moses said.

Law Council of Australia president Arthur Moses, SC. Supplied

The process needed to be more robust, with a ministerial decision that considered “whether the offender poses a substantial risk to Australia’s national security, as well as our international legal obligations”, he said.

The Minister’s decision should afford procedural fairness and be subject to judicial review, he said.

“When it comes to the loss of citizenship linked to national security, the federal government needs to ensure there is proper basis for it, which does not lead to uncertainty or disputes with our allies," Mr Moses said.

“When an announcement of international and national importance is made, the government must ensure it is not premature and is verified.”

The decision to strip an Australian ISIS member of his citizenship was thrown in doubt when it was reported Neil Prakash was never a citizen of Fiji.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has previously indicated he would rather see Prakash spend a long time in a Turkish jail and ensure he cannot return to Australia.

Asked last weekend whether Australia was still pursuing extradition, Mr Dutton said: "Mr Prakash faces what I hope will be a long jail term in Turkey … The priority for us is to make sure that people like Neil Prakash don't come back to Australia. We don't want them here. These are people that would kill Australians."

Australians can only be stripped of their citizenship on terrorism grounds if they have another nationality and therefore are not made stateless. Melbourne-born Prakash is the son of a Fijian father and Cambodian mother.

Mr Dutton has said the government has legal advice Prakash is Fijian, but a senior Fijian immigration official has been quoted saying he is not, sparking what appears to be a stand-off between the two countries’ governments.

Mr Dutton has said the Fijians were advised “some time ago” of the government’s declaration that Prakash has been stripped of his Australian citizenship.

But the Fijian official, Nemani Vuniwaqa, has been quoted by the Fiji Sun newspaper saying that he has not spoken to the Australian government.

"I’ve not spoken to the Australian Minister for Home Affairs or the Australian government in regards to Neil Prakash," he said.