al-Islah and being critical of the government. Despite his citizenship not being revoked, he has been unable to renew any of his identity documents for years. He hired a lawyer to contact an Emirati embassy to have his citizenship renewed, but the staff refused to answer the lawyer. Al-Shamsi was later informed that he is currently registered as an “al-makfoleen” (‫ )ديلذفقيلا‬in the system, a term used to refer to people being sponsored in the Kafala system in the UAE. This designation reflects a status where a person has close to no rights in the UAE, which has disastrous consequences on the enjoyment of an individual’s life. Children of activists on this list are also unable to renew their citizenship, and children born while their father is on the list are not granted Emirati citizenship, despite it being their father’s nationality. This de facto renders these children stateless. Through our interviews we have gathered that this practice is widespread, encompassing many individuals, including numerous family members of the “UAE94”. The families of the “UAE94”, both inside and outside the UAE, who are placed in this system, face many of the same consequences as those whose citizenship has been revoked. The key distinction is that they were not deleted as such from the UAE system. When attempting to carry out administrative tasks, they are not explicitly informed of their non-citizen status but are instead asked to present valid IDs, which they cannot do. Consequently, they face significant obstacles in the enjoyment of a wide range of rights. They are also effectively barred from traveling, and for those residing outside the UAE, returning to their home countries. Additionally, as soon as their IDs become invalid, they are unable to visit their family members in prison, leading to many families being unable to attend the hearing of the current “UAE87” trial and being left uninformed about their loved ones’ situations. Some other families experienced these challenges for a limited period of time only, particularly in the aftermath of the 2012 mass arrests and the subsequent trial. During this time, many families of detainees encountered restrictions and discrimination, and many were unable to renew their IDs. However, this situation varied among cases. Some families faced these hurdles for a few months or years, and eventually regained their full rights. The application of these restrictive measures, therefore, does not adhere to a consistent pattern. Nonetheless, the majority of families of detainees still endure this ban on ID renewals today and the harsh consequences that follow. Importantly, no legal avenue is available to appeal against this punitive measure, as it is entirely arbitrary and lacks any legal basis. The evidence we gathered has also shown that authorities sometimes use this tactic as leverage to extract information from individuals. They withhold passport renewals and then summon individuals for interrogation, promising document renewal in exchange for cooperation. However, if the government is not seeking information and refuses to renew documents as a reprisal measure, which happens in the vast majority of cases, individuals have no recourse or appeal available to them. We have gathered that this practice is extremely widespread and that it touches a very large number of people inside and outside of the UAE. The prevalence of this practice highlights the extensive reach of the crackdown on peaceful dissenting voices. It underscores the severity of the authorities’ crackdown on civic space, extending punishment even to family members of those who simply advocated for democratic 21 Citizenship stripping in the UAE