Zeineb Alsabeehg This report sheds light on peculiar features of Bahrain’s citizenship regime that includes citizenship revocations, but also politically motivated naturalisations of foreigners and gender discrimination against female citizens’ right to transfer citizenship to their children and spouses. Political debates and campaigns on these features are discussed in the report, showing that there have been some changes on individual cases, but that there is no clear political will to reform the citizenship regime on a structural level (chapter 4). The concluding chapter (chapter 5) sums up the findings of the report. 2. Historical Background Bahrain has had two citizenship laws: one from 1937 and the current one from 1963. The AlKhalifa rulers have been dominant actors in their drafting and amendments, even though Bahrain was under British protectorate when these two laws were enacted and has had a partly elected legislative assembly since the beginning of the 21th century. The amendments to the current Bahraini Citizenship Act from 1963 have changed some rules regarding acquisition and loss of citizenship in the law since it was first issued. 2.1 The Al-Khalifa rule since 1783, the British protectorate until 1971 and the Period after Independence Bahrain has been ruled by the same clan for over 200 years. The Al-Khalifa conquered the country in 1783 and has since had the power over the territory. For over 100 years, this was with the direct support of Great Britain. Bahrain was a British protectorate from 1861 until 1971 when Bahrain became independent. Bahrain – along with some other Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar – thus gained its independence relatively recently. The AlKhalifa clan has as the rulers of the country, had great impact on the drafting, enactment and implementation of laws. For most of Bahrain’s history, including the period after independence, Bahrain has not had an elected legislative assembly. A first attempt was made right after independence, when Bahrain held its first national election in 1972 and set up a parliament in 1973. However, after only two years in function, the Al-Khalifa ruler suspended the parliament as it proved that it could stop bills from the government. The government was directly appointed by the Emir from Al-Khalifa. Still today, the government is appointed by the Al-Khalifa ruler who today is called the king. The parliament was restored, since 2002, but still with practically no ability to challenge the supreme power of the king which is embodied in the Constitution. Even before Bahrain’s independence in 1971, the Al-Khalifa had the authority to pass legislation as long as it did not derive from the directives of the British administration.4 Bahrain’s two citizenship laws were issued by the rulers from Al-Khalifa under the British protectorate. The first in 1937 was issued by Hamad bin Issa Al-Khalifa, the great-grandfather of the current king who has the same name. The second law from 1963, which replaced the former, was issued by Issa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, the father of the current king and ruler of Bahrain. 4 Yacoob Seyadi, ‘‫ وﺗﻌﺪﯾﻼﺗﮫ‬1963 ‫[ رأي ﻓﻲ ﺑﻌﺾ ﻣﻮاد ﻗﺎﻧﻮن اﻟﺠﻨﺴﯿﺔ اﻟﺒﺤﺮﯾﻨﯿﺔ ﻟﻌﺎم‬Opinion on some articles of the Bahraini Citizenship Act of 1963 and its amendments]’, Al-Wasat, 2 September 2014, http://www.alwasatnews.com/news/917323.html (accessed 2 January 2021). 2 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2021/6- © 2021 Author(s)