son” (ref. the Constitution of Bahrain) and for ���damaging the security of the state” (ref.
the Citizenship Act).
Since 2013, the authorities have also extended the power to strip people of their
citizenship based on terrorism-related charges. However, the anti-terrorism legislation
has been internationally criticised for having a vague definition of terrorism that enables
the government to criminalise activities of freedom of expression, assembly and association (McChrystal 2016). Due process is lacking and torture is widely used to extract
confessions from the defendants, as have been documented in the case of the so-called
“Zulfiqar Brigades” where 115 individuals had their citizenship revoked (Amnesty International 2018).
Two main groups of people have had their citizenship revoked by Bahraini authorities: Individuals affiliated with ISIS and dissidents from the Shia population in Bahrain. The overwhelming majority belong to the latter group. The increasing use of citizenship revocations during the last few years in Bahrain is associated with the governmental suppression of protestors following the Arab uprising that erupted in the country
in 2011 (Alsabeehg 2018). Human rights groups have criticised the practice for being a
tool by the Bahraini government “to crush all forms of opposition, dissent and activism”
(Amnesty International 2018).
The lost rights
What are the rights that citizens enjoy, which can no longer be enjoyed by those who
have had their citizenship revoked? I discuss this question based on examples from the
Bahraini case of citizenship revocations. Three main rights are highlighted. These are
(1) the right of residence, (2) the right of employment and (3) the right of transferring
citizenship to children. In the examination, (4) the right to movement and travel, (5) the
right to state-subsidised social benefits and (6) the right to health care are also mentioned. This article illustrates the significant impact citizenship revocations have on people’s lives. The transition from the position of a citizen to a stateless person changes an
individual’s life dramatically. It also affects the family of the individual whose citizenship
has been revoked, as discussed in the last section of this article.
“The transition from the position of a citizen to a stateless person
changes an individual’s life dramatically”
The Courts in Bahrain have issued the majority of citizenship revocations. The defendants are usually sentenced to imprisonment in addition to having their citizenship revoked. For instance, in the case of 115 defendants who had their citizenship revoked on
May 15, 2018, almost half (53 persons) were sentenced to life in prison, while the rest
received sentences ranging from 15 to 3 years in prison. Therefore, for most of those
who have been stripped of their citizenship, they have not experienced life outside the
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