S TAT E L E S S B Y D E C R E E On 9 May 2025, Ahmad Benswait set out the risks of speaking out about revocation of nationality. He explains that on 8 March 2025, Salwa al-Sayed “spoke out against racial and sexist slurs received online during her participation in a public Space event on the Article 8 issue hosted on X [...]”112 He adds that: “Less than 24 hours later, the official X account of Kuwait's Ministry of Interior posted the following statement: ʻA woman whose Article 8 Kuwaiti citizenship had been revoked was arrested a�er she criticized government decisions on social media. She was referred to the Deportation and Temporary Detention Affairs Department, pending deportation to her country of origin.ʼ" The government then used a clip of her X space in their own social media to characterise her speech as "challenging the state." Salwa al-Sayed took part in further, public events on 14 March 2025, when she alleged that the Minister of Interior, Fahad al-Yousef al-Sabah and his officers verbally and physically harassed her; that the minister himself had interrogated her; that officials conducted an “invasive and humiliating” search of her person and “threatened to hang her by the legs.”113 On 10 March 2025, the GoK detained and ill-treated and summarily deported her to Egypt without any opportunity to see her (Kuwaiti) daughters. As discussed above, under Scope and operation of citizenship revocations, the authorities appeared to use citizenship revocation as a proxy punishment for those who had expressed opposition to the government. In November 2025, the GoK revoked, on Article 21 grounds fraud or false documents - the citizenship of former parliamentarian Mohammed Hussein al-Muhan and a number of his relatives, including father and uncles. The total number of revocations connected with his family was 169 persons.114 He and/or members of his family were likewise accused of holding dual nationality, that of another GCC (Gulf) country. In 2022-3, Mohammed Hussein al-Muhan, however, was a parliamentarian aligned with those who opposed the government. He lost the seat in 2024, before the suspension of the National Assembly. In March and early April 2024 the authorities revoked the nationality of others, considered linked to parties perceived as opposition to the government, such as Ummah Party leader Hakem Al-Mutairi. In his case, the authorities “issued 13 decisions and three decrees stripping citizenship from 63 people, including 23 women.”115 SN A PSH OT 4 Those made stateless, re-made stateless or at risk of statelessness The GoKʼs restrictive and generalised approach failed to capture the double injustices that the pre-existing legal framework built: Aziza, a former member of the Bidoon community, acquired Kuwaiti citizenship by marriage. She had surrendered her (Bidoon-only) “Article 17” passport (a travel document issued to the Bidoon) for the passport of a full national. She worked in a government role for 15–16 years before finding herself, once again, stateless and Bidoon. A�er 26 years of government service, the GoK froze her pension. As a result, her bank removed access to her own funds. She stated that she was facing daily harassment, including at work: “Why are you still here?”. 26 Years of government service before Aziza’s pension was frozen and her bank access removed. 44