Implications for Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) GCHR has documented an increasing trend of repression by the current Kuwaiti government over the last two years, including on the Bedoon or stateless community.(34) The former Parliamentarian Saleh Al-Mulla was recently arrested after posting several posts on X social media platform demanding the government to reconsider stripping nationalities. The charge against him is based on questioning the rights of the ruler or Emir in the following post, in which he said: “What’s happening with the wives and widows of the Kuwaiti nationals who were illegally stripped of nationality is illogical… how can their bank accounts be suspended until they get a stateless card?...This is not right. I was contacted by a widow of a Kuwaiti citizen in her 70s, she’s disabled and living off social welfare, her bank account is frozen and she’s now unable to pay her expenses nor to go to the state to admit she’s stateless or present her former nationality, as she can’t present any documentations of that sort, and she’s required to get clearance from 29 governmental entities on top of that.” (35) Al-Mulla’s arrest came after the release of another former parliamentarian, Muhannad Al-Sayer, also based on a post on X, in which he recorded a message to ask the state to reconsider stripping the nationality of the foreign wives.(36) Activists have also been targeted for the same demand. Luluwa Al-Hussinan, an online activist, has published a horrific account of her interrogation at the state security department by the Minister of Interior, Fahad Al-Youssef, in his office over her posts on X in support of the women who were affected. (37) (34) https://www.gc4hr.org/we-cannot-promise-free-speech-suppression-of-advocacy-for-the-bedoon-in-kuwait/ (35) https://x.com/SalehAlmulla/status/1864829021898355076 (36) https://x.com/MuhannadAlSayer/status/1875129661375812012 (37) https://x.com/lolwalhussinan/status/1868331350300000489 20 Kuwait: Amendments to Kuwaiti Nationality Law pose serious threats to human rights