Stateless and forced into exile, Bahraini families stuck in limbo

When Ali saw his name and that of his three-month-old daughter in the news on April 27, he fainted: they were among 69 people stripped of Bahraini citizenship in the aftermath of the Iran war.

On the same day, he got a call from authorities asking him to turn in his official documents and those of his infant. In the next days, Ali, 31, his daughter and his wife were forced to leave for Iran, never to return.

He tried to fly to the United Kingdom, was denied entry in Oman and spent weeks in Azerbaijan and Georgia trying to secure entry to Europe, to no avail. So he ended up in Iran, to where Bahrain had banished him and many of the others, via a third country.

Manama cited a royal directive against traitors undermining security, and said the group of 69 had been either spying or "glorifying or sympathising" with Iran, which pummelled Bahrain with drones and missiles during the war.

Human Rights Watch and the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said all of those listed were Shias of Persian descent, who make up roughly 14 percent of the population.

"She is just an infant," Ali said of his daughter. "Why is she being punished? What kind of treason could she have possibly committed?" he told AFP over the phone.

For rights defenders, the revocations were the latest sign of Sunni-ruled Bahrain's growing crackdown on its large Shia population after Iran's Gulf attacks. Bahraini Shias, who share the faith of the majority of Iranians, have long complained of marginalisation.

Bahrain has denied targeting people based on their faith. The list includes 33 children, according to BIRD.

The people affected requested that AFP use only their first name given the sensitivity of the matter.

"I am trying to find a safe country for us but so far no one has been able to help us," Ali said.

- 'Non-Bahraini origin' -

Many who found themselves on the list have now either left for Europe, ended up in Iran, or are still in Georgia, trying to find alternatives to a life in Iran. Five people were jailed for reasons including social media posts, espionage, filming and glorifying Iranian attacks.

"This campaign is racist and discriminatory: it targets people of Shia faith and Persian descent. It has targeted children and torn families apart," said Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei of BIRD, himself previously stripped of his citizenship.

Manama had described the group of 69 as being "of non-Bahraini origin" but the vast majority do not appear to hold any other citizenship, rendering at least 46 of them stateless, according to BIRD.

Gulf monarchies have long used citizenship revocations against political dissidents, but the people AFP spoke to said they were not politically involved and denied supporting Iran.

More than 500 people, mostly Shias, have been arrested since the onset of the war, according to BIRD. Many of them are accused of spying for Iran or of sharing pro-Tehran views and posts.

Earlier this month, a Bahrain court sentenced an intelligence officer to life in prison for beating to death a detainee, identified by rights groups as a Shia activist of Iranian descent.

- 'We can reach you' -

The latest revocations included at least four Shia clerics, according to BIRD, including the father of 38-year-old Mohamed.

He described a steep fall from grace after his father's entire lineage of 11 people, including Mohamed's then eleven-month-old daughter, were rendered stateless.

"Two months ago I had the best life ever: I was an executive, I had a nice house, then suddenly, everything was ruined. Our names were in all the papers. I was suspended from my job. People saw us as enemies," he said.

"Our children were scared to go to school, they were calling them terrorists and traitors," the father of three said.

Mohamed and two of his siblings and their families managed to secure a flight to a European country, where they are currently seeking asylum.

Mohamed and Ali's wives, who retained Bahraini citizenship, were ordered to leave or face revocations, they both said.

"Our family has lived in Bahrain for generations but authorities want to prove that our allegiance lies with Iran, that we are 'Iranian'. This is why they want us to return," he said.

Mohamed said he tried to buy passports through investment schemes often costing at least tens of thousands of dollars.

"But they said you have to have a nationality before you buy another one. There is no way around it," he said.

He comes from a well-off family and some of his relatives had publicly supported the King.

"Our family became an example for the rest of society: even if you have money, even if you support the government, we can get to you," he said.

Authorities have cited national security to justify the decision, stripping judicial oversight, which means they "have not been required to provide any evidence for these claims," according to Niku Jafarnia of Human Rights Watch.

This also means the people have "no way to challenge the decision," she said.

The families say they have repeatedly tried asking Bahraini officers why they had been targeted, what they had done, in vain.

"We are emotionally broken... Our life is in Bahrain. Our families, our homes, our friends," Mohamed said.

"I need answers. What was my mistake? What did my children do?"