Citizenship of 50 Bahrainis revoked as punishment

In conjunction with the intensifying repressive measures and the detention of Al Wefaq’s Secretary General, the Bahraini regime has revoked the citizenships of 72 Bahraini nationals, including 50 dissidents.  

Names of nationals fighting abroad and believed to have links with ISIS were listed in the revocation decision in an attempt to mix issues.   

Most Bahraini dissidents stripped of their citizenship, by today’s decision, had found themselves forced to live in exile due to the repression of freedoms and political and rights activism in Bahrain.

On November 6 of 2012, the Bahraini Authority arbitrarily revoked citizenships of 31 Bahrainis who had been sentenced either to death, life or imprisonment with politically-motivated cases. This was done under amendments to an anti-terror law.

The international community urged the decision be revised by the judiciary then. However, on 29th April 2014, the judiciary concluded that this matter was not to be monitored by the judicial system. This highlights to the international community that the Authority in Bahrain does not respect the International Law for Human Rights. Also, this is an obvious unjust measure to punish citizens for their opinions and peaceful activism against the state. Thus, this lays a great responsibility on the international community to protect Bahraini citizens from such reprisals after the judiciary’s shameful declaration.    

It is worth mentioning that 121 Bahraini nationals have had their nationalities revoked so far. The decision was reversed in 9 cases, decreasing this number to 112, including journalists, opposition figures and human rights activists on one hand, and ISIS-affiliated fighters on the other hand.

At least 120 people have been killed in clashes since 2011, while hundreds have been arrested and put on trial, rights groups say.



/129