Nationality and Cases of Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa allegiance to a foreign or enemy state and in response to the commission of a serious non-political crime are the next most commonly recognised grounds. Most MENA countries have legislated for the loss or deprivation of nationality in several of the aforementioned circumstances. As shown in Table 5, Bahrain, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE allow the state to withdraw nationality on all of the these grounds. Among the less common but nevertheless noteworthy circumstances in which MENA’s laws may provide for the loss or deprivation of nationality are the following: • Long-term absence from the territory of the state (i.e. long-term residence abroad): Egypt, Libya, Qatar, Syria, UAE and Yemen. This is based on the notion that the connection with the state of nationality has faded and a new tie of allegiance is being formed elsewhere. • Failure to fulfil military obligations: Morocco and Tunisia. Being prepared to defend one’s country is a common duty attached to nationality and the failure to fulfil military obligations may therefore be read as a sign of disloyalty. In both of these states, this ground for revocation of nationality only applies to naturalised nationals. 118