Daijiworld Media Network - Kuwait
Kuwait, Dec 12: In what activists describe as an unprecedented assault on civil rights, Kuwait is estimated to have stripped at least 50,000 people of their citizenship since September 2024 — with campaigners warning the real figure may be closer to 200,000. The government, which stopped releasing official data in September 2025, has maintained silence even as the number of stateless families continues to rise.
Kuwait, long seen as one of the Gulf’s more open societies with its elected parliament and history of sheltering dissidents, has witnessed a sharp shift since Sheikh Mishal Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah assumed power in 2023. The suspension of Parliament in May 2024 — along with key constitutional clauses linked to nationality — has paved the way for a sweeping crackdown that critics say is targeting activists, political opponents and even ordinary residents.
Islamic scholar and political activist Mohammed al-Mail, who received asylum in the UK in 2017, described the mass denaturalisation drive as “purely political”. His own citizenship was revoked on October 19.
“The same state that once sheltered the oppressed is now persecuting its own children,” he told Middle East Eye.
New laws passed in December 2024 allow authorities to revoke citizenship for alleged “moral turpitude”, criticism of the emir and even bureaucratic discrepancies. On a single day — March 6 — a staggering 464 Kuwaitis were declared non-citizens.
Women who had gained citizenship through marriage have been among the worst hit, after Article 9 — earlier protecting their status — was suspended. Rights groups estimate that up to two-thirds of those denaturalised are widows and divorcees who surrendered their original nationality, leaving them stateless and unable to access schools, healthcare or government jobs.
Case studies documented by rights group Salam highlight harrowing ordeals.
One such victim, Iman, a naturalised citizen born in Kuwait, was stripped of her nationality in December 2024 and later deported to Egypt after she publicly vowed to reclaim her rights. Rights groups say she was strip-searched, interrogated in handcuffs and barred from seeing her children before being expelled.
Another woman, Layla, originally from Saudi Arabia, found herself rejected by both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, leaving her in a legal limbo despite living two decades in Kuwait.
Andrew McIntosh of Salam said government rhetoric has grown increasingly xenophobic and misogynistic, painting affected women as opportunists.
“We’re talking about tens, if not hundreds of thousands, losing their nationality due to political motives, administrative errors or minor accusations,” he said.
Analysts say the purge is partly a political clampdown aimed at silencing dissent after rising criticism of the emir’s governance. Others argue it may be driven by economic motivations as Kuwait attempts to preserve welfare benefits for a smaller pool of “true citizens”.
McIntosh termed it an effort at “defining a distinct Kuwaitness”, even at the cost of violating international protections against statelessness.
Despite forced statelessness being illegal under international law, Kuwait has faced little international pushback.
“There is no system for judicial review. Decisions are absolute,” said Tiana Danielle Xavier from the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion.
Mail, who now campaigns from the UK, says efforts have begun to hold Kuwait accountable.
“We have initiated serious steps. The results will soon be visible,” he said.
The UK Foreign Office is reportedly assessing what the crackdown could mean for Kuwaitis with British ties but declined to comment on individual cases.