AhlulBayt News Agency - A Bahraini appeals court has upheld the decision to deport a Bahraini lawyer who was turned stateless when authorities revoked his citizenship in 2012 along with 30 other nationals with charges of “harming the state security”. The case of Timur Karimi, 59, presents yet another example of the Bahraini authorities’ insistence to forcibly deport individuals striped of their citizenships. Karimi’s case has not even gone through the levels of litigation in accordance with Article 8 of the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness 1961.
“The court ruled for the deportation of Timur Karimi without even allowing him to see the royal decree by which his nationality was revoked,” said Mohammed Alshakhuri who is a member of Al Wefaq’s Liberties and Human Rights Department. “The revocation is citizenship entails a royal decree in Bahrain, though recent amendments made to the law gave the Interior Minister the capacity to request this for certain reasons”.
Karimi is a well-known lawyer in Bahrain. His bank accounts were frozen based on the decision in 2012. He was also noted that he can no longer do his job and need to correct his legal status as he is now considered a “foreigner”. On August 10th of 2014, Karimi was charged of illegal residence in the country. A criminal court ruled for his deportation with a fine of 100 dinars ($ 260).
The Liberties and Human Rights Department (LHRD) in Al Wefaq has expressed serious concern over the decision to deport Karimi. The LHRD urges the Bahraini authorities to halt this arbitrary practice which is a clear violation of Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In addition to Article 9 of the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness which states that “A Contracting State may not deprive any person or group of persons of their nationality on racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds.” Finally, the LHRD reminded that the decision also violated the Bahraini constitution which prohibited deporting citizens and preventing them from returning in Article 17-b.
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source : al-Wefaq
Saturday
28 May 2016
10:02:15 AM
756831
The court ruled for the deportation of Timur Karimi without even allowing him to see the royal decree by which his nationality was revoked