Kuwait amends citizenship law amid revocation spree: What to know
Kuwait has stripped around 50,000 people of their citizenship over alleged forgery and security concerns, with observers alleging the government is silencing critics.
Kuwait announced amendments to its citizenship law on Tuesday after alleging allegations of fraud and forgery in a number of cases, as thousands of citizens have had their nationality stripped.
What happened: The Kuwaiti Council of Ministers approved a law amending the 1959 Nationality Law. The official Kuwait News Agency reported that the changes aim to “update the legislative framework” concerning nationality, specifically with regard to “protecting the national fabric” and “ensuring the state’s exercise of its sovereign powers.”
The government did not state what exactly the amendment does, but the Supreme Committee to Investigate Kuwaiti Citizenship announced in early February that it had revoked the nationality of an unspecified number of citizens due to “dual citizenship, forgery, fraud and conflict with the state’s supreme interest,” the agency reported.
Local media reported on Sunday that 120 people have had their citizenship revoked on the grounds that they were dual citizens. Kuwaitis are prohibited from having a second nationality under the 1959 law.
