The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) is following with deep concern the escalating trend of revoking the citizenship of thousands of Kuwaiti citizens and their families. In a recent report, GCHR has highlighted the problematic methods of the Kuwaiti government in making decisions to strip citizens of their Kuwaiti nationality after decades of acquiring it legally. Most of those affected were the foreign wives of Kuwaiti citizens, and those who acquired the nationality through merits and contribution to the state.

The vague and illegal means of revoking citizenship were highlighted in a recent letter entitled “We Are Refugees in Our Own Country,” which GCHR received last month. The letter detailed the horrific case of Moeedh Mohammed Al-Ajmi and his family, who were stripped of their citizenship in the most bizarre manner.

Al-Ajmi is a 75-year-old retired Kuwaiti citizen who has selflessly served his country for over 20 years in the military. He is the father of several Kuwaiti men and women and the grandfather of several grandchildren. He was humiliatingly arrested while on his way to Friday prayers and forcibly taken to the hospital. He was then forced to undergo a blood test against his will. He was later informed that the blood test allegedly showed that his DNA did not match his father’s. As a result, all of his children and grandchildren, both men and women, were stripped of their citizenship.

Ensuring health and proper medical care is a human right, as stated in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, the Kuwaiti authorities have ignored this right for thousands of citizens who have been arbitrarily stripped of their citizenship, as well as for members of the Bedoon community in Kuwait.

A Kuwaiti doctor announced in a post on the X platform that she was unable to prescribe the necessary medication to a 73-year-old Bedoon patient with a disability because he did not have an ID card, even though he carried a disability card.

During Kuwait’s latest Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council, which was held on 07 May 2025, questions were raised about the due process for revoking citizenship and its consequences for those affected.

In response, the Kuwaiti government’s representative addressed the Human Rights Council, announcing that some citizens had obtained citizenship after ministerial violations and with the knowledge of the elected National Assembly, which had decided to accept the status quo. Despite this, he added that all the current government was doing was correcting a technical error by revoking citizenship after 40 years. Undoubtedly, this constitutes an arbitrary decision that punishes citizens and their families and deprives them of their natural right to a free and dignified life.

This is also a claim that has since been refuted by numerous constitutional and legal experts in Kuwait, as highlighted in GCHR’s previous report, and GCHR’s joint submission to Kuwait’s UPR with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The Kuwaiti Mission to the UN also stated that those affected are granted all their basic rights, contrary to the claims of those stripped of their citizenship, as documented by informed local sources about their suffering and loss of a decent livelihood.

On 20 February 2025, at the UPR Pre-Session on Kuwait, GCHR’s Geneva Representative Michael Khambatta advocated for freedom of expression and the newly stateless. GCHR called on Kuwait to reform defamation legislation in conformity with ICCPR Article 19 and grant citizenship to the Bedoon community members who reside in the country. On 20 March 2025, GCHR’s Geneva Representative also spoke during the UN HRC’s 58th’s session about the new nationality laws in Kuwait and Oman.

On 11 March 2025, the Kuwaiti Council of Ministers issued a decision establishing a Grievance Committee for the Withdrawal and Revocation of Kuwaiti Citizenship. The Kuwaiti government also promised thousands of foreign wives who had lost their previous citizenship as a condition for obtaining Kuwaiti citizenship that they would be treated as citizens.

On 29 May 2025, the Ministry of Interior published a decision regulating the procedures for amending the status of women whose citizenship had been revoked, in accordance with Article 8 of the Kuwaiti Nationality Law. The decision stipulated three conditions that must be met between now and 30 September 2025. These conditions include: First, women must coordinate with their country of origin’s embassy to obtain their previous passport to grant them legal residency in Kuwait. Second, women will be given one year, starting 01 June 2025, to update their legal status and obtain documents proving they are in the process of obtaining their previous passport. Third, women can appeal to the Grievance Committee to review the revocation of their Kuwaiti citizenship while they are amending their legal status.

This chaotic process lacks organisation and proper legal procedures. It is undoubtedly illogical because it aims to entrench arbitrary decisions, such as the revocation of citizenship, which has also been characterised by chaos and a violation of human rights principles. It is worth noting that the Kuwaiti authorities will not accept dual citizenship, even in cases where a woman is able to regain her previous nationality.

The authorities should have followed the principles of justice and made the role of the Special Grievances Committee primary, making its recommendations enforceable before any legal amendments required of those whose citizenships were revoked. However, according to legal experts, this committee, which had received more than 5,000 grievances by early May 2025, is designed to play no effective role. Article 9 of the decision to establish it stipulates that its reports be submitted to the Council of Ministers for review, not approval. This same council was behind all the arbitrary decisions to revoke citizenship.

On 29 May 2025, in press statements, the spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Seif Magango, said: “We are deeply concerned about Kuwait´s recent nationality revocations, particularly of individuals who renounced previous citizenships, and about the extension of such revocations to their dependents. Stripping people of their nationalities has a serious impact on their economic, social, cultural, and political rights.”

The ongoing chaotic, arbitrary, and illegal methods of revoking citizenship since last year have affected the lives, safety, well-being, decent living, and health of more than 60,000 citizens and their extended families. Approximately 681 of these individuals had obtained citizenship through merit or what is known as noble deeds. Among those stripped of their citizenship after having obtained it through merit is world-renowned joint surgery consultant Dr. Muthana Al-Sartawi, who patented a technique called “A Modified Intervastus Approach for Total Knee Replacement” that reduces pain and enhances recovery in knee and hip replacement surgeries.

More alarming is the use of citizenship revocation as a weapon against political opponents and civil society activists. In a television interview in March 2025, the Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Kuwaiti Nationality Investigation Committee, Fahad Al-Yousef, stated that anyone who legally acquired citizenship but resides outside Kuwait and criticises prominent figures in Kuwait deserves to have their citizenship revoked.

GCHR has already documented several cases brought by the authorities against several former members of Parliament and other activists who criticised the suspension of parliament, the freezing of several constitutional articles, and the decisions to revoke citizenship. The Kuwaiti government’s suppression of freedom of expression only exacerbates the dangerous situation, transforming Kuwait from an oasis of freedom, compared to other neighboring countries, to a police state par excellence.

Recommendations

GCHR calls on the Kuwaiti government to:

1. Suspend arbitrary citizenship revocation decisions until the law is reviewed in accordance with international standards to minimise the number of stateless citizens;
2. Ensure a transparent and carefully considered mechanism to ensure fairness, justice, and compliance with the law in cases of citizenship revocation, without official interference to use the revocation against opponents or critics, and to give those affected a full opportunity to file complaints before a fair judiciary;
3. Ensure that those affected by citizenship revocation receive their basic needs, such as education, healthcare, housing, the right to dispose of their personal bank accounts, manage property, and obtain identity and travel documents; and
4. Allow people to speak freely online and offline, without fear of repression, to express their needs and explain their circumstances under their new status.