Kuwait to address other states on dual citizens

Cairo: Kuwaiti authorities are mulling contacts with other countries to obtain names of Kuwaiti citizens who hold another nationality, a Kuwaiti newspaper has reported, as the country has already revoked citizenship of many individuals for various reasons.

Kuwait, a country of 4.7 million people mostly expatriates, has recently launched a clampdown on citizenship fraud and duality to protect national identity.
Authorities have withdrawn citizenship from hundreds of people since early March due to fraud or holding another nationality that is banned under Kuwaiti law.

Al Rai newspaper quoted well-informed sources as saying the plan to contact other countries comes after uncovering more cases of dual citizenship held by Kuwaitis, who had earlier submitted documents stating that they had renounced their foreign nationality.

Investigations showed that those citizens have obtained again the identification papers of the foreign nationality in violation of Kuwait’s citizenship law, the sources said.
More cases of dual citizenship have also been discovered through biometric fingerprints, or other evidence.
In addition, the Kuwaiti government plans to address the countries whose nationalities were held by people whose Kuwaiti citizenship was withdrawn.

“Loyalty to Kuwait is a red line. There is no bargaining in the matter of nationality when it comes to the homeland, due to the perpetration of a crime and the issuance of a final conviction ruling after exhausting all levels of litigation,” the sources added.
Last month, Kuwait revoked the citizenship of 38 persons convicted and given final court rulings in several terrorism cases.

The revocations included five convicts in the so-called the “Peninsula Lions” case in which final rulings were issued in June 2007.

The case dates to 2005 when unrest began in the Hawalli Square area and spread to other areas, resulting in the killing of some extremists, security personnel and civilians.
A supreme state committee, in charge of vetting citizenship files, also withdrew Kuwaiti nationality from 11 others convicted of funding the Iran-allied Lebanese Hezbollah group.

The revocation list also included 22 others convicted in a terror case dubbed in the media as the “Abdali Cell” case. In June 2016, the Court of Cassation issued final rulings in this case convicting 23 citizens– one of them had earlier been stripped of Kuwaiti citizenship.

The charges raised against them included communicating with Iran, joining an organization whose purpose was to spread principles aimed at undermining the basic systems of Kuwait, as well as bringing in, storing and possessing large quantities of weapons and explosives jeopardizing the country’s security.