Kuwait strips citizenship from influential Islamic scholar

Kuwait has stripped citizenship from 24 people, including prominent Islamic scholar Tareq al-Suwaidan.

The country's official gazette published a decree to withdraw the citizenship of  “Tareq Mohammed Saleh al-Suwaidan and those who have acquired it with him in a subordinate manner”.

It did not specify under what specific legislation Suwaidan's citizenship was stripped, but in recent years the country has removed it from numerous Kuwaitis for a range of reasons including accusations of fraud and forgery.

Suwaidan is one of the region’s most prominent Islamic speakers, has written dozens of books, and was listed among the 500 most influential Muslims in the world in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

He is also CEO of the Gulf Innovation Group and a TV host.

Rights groups and opposition politicians have accused ruler Sheikh Mishal Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah of using citizenship-stripping as a means of persecuting critics and dissidents.

Sheikh Mishal became the emir of Kuwait on 16 December 2023 following the death of Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah.

Since then, he has suspended the Kuwaiti parliament, a relatively unique institution in the largely monarchic Gulf.

At the time, the emir said that the Gulf state's National Assembly would be suspended, as well as several articles of the constitution, in order to review the “democratic process” potentially until 2028.

Tens of thousands of Kuwaitis have been stripped of their nationality since then, much of it targeting women who obtained citizenship through marriage but were since widowed or divorced.

Basic rights

Last month, Kuwait also withdrew the citizenship of former MP Mohammed Hussein al-Muhan and several of his relatives.

The authorities cited article 21 of the Kuwaiti nationality law, which allows revocation if nationality was granted "on the basis of fraud, false statements, or incorrect documents".

Rights groups say that the move is illegal under international law because, as dual citizenship is not allowed in Kuwait, it leaves many of them stateless and cut off from vital services.

'Without a nationality, a person is often unable to access fundamental rights'

- Tiana Danielle Xavier, ISI

"Nationality is unfortunately practised as a 'gateway' right around the world. This means that without a nationality, a person is often unable to access to all other very basic and fundamental rights," Tiana Danielle Xavier at the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) told Middle East Eye.

"Rights that we too often take for granted such as the right to have an education, to work, to receive healthcare, to vote, to travel freely, and to even get legally married. This can trickle down to the person’s children as well, leading to generations who are left without a nationality and denied their rights to participate in society and enjoy these basic rights. "