Over 50,000 people have had their Kuwaiti nationality stripped as the Gulf state continues its purge of ‘forged’ nationalities. Now, they have added the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the UK to the list.
In March of last year, Kuwait's new monarch, Emir Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah launched a policy claiming to target foreigners who illegally obtained their Kuwaiti citizenship. In the ensuing months, the policy has been interpreted more and more broadly, with nationalised citizens and political opponents reportedly being affected by the campaign.
His Excellency Ambassador Bader Al-Awadhi is the latest high-profile Kuwaiti to be affected as the Supreme Committee for Citizenship Investigation announces citizenship can be revoked in cases of dual nationality, forgery or misconduct.
It begs the question, if citizenship can be revoked for a finding of ‘misconduct’, what does misconduct mean?
This quiet crisis began with the escalating repression of Kuwaiti’s critics in 2024 when a Kuwaiti court sentenced Anwar Hayati to four years in prison under the State Security Law, because of online comments. Since then, nearly 50,000 people have had their citizenship revoked.
Now, Sheikh Fahad Yousef Saud Al Sabah, Kuwaiti’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior told Al Qabas newspaper that ‘All nationality files in Kuwait are under review and subject to detailed scrutiny without exception’.
The denaturalisations have been justified as a campaign against foreign nationals who are living off the generous welfare benefits meant for Kuwaitis, with the Emir describing it as a national effort to ‘restore Kuwait to its rightful people, clean and free of impurities’.
Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Youssef further stated that: ‘Kuwait was held hostage by forged nationalities. We are now returning it to its true citizens’.
The government has also opened a ‘hotline’ to encourage Kuwaitis to report dual nationals and to denounce others who may have procured their nationality through false documentation.
Following a royal directive, the Kingdom of Bahrain has renewed the passports of its citizens stripped of Kuwaiti nationality in light of recent events. This swift intervention has filled a legal and logistical gap created by the loss of Kuwaiti documentation.
Dual nationals, political opponents and now, Kuwait’s own ambassadors. In a move that sparked great debate on social media platform X, reports have circulated that the current ambassador has had his citizenship revoked as well as that of his father and all those descended from him. The news was announced on the platform from an opposition account called ‘Freedom for the Oppressed Free’ in a post which has accrued over 94k views. The post shows an image of what appears to be the decree revoking the name of ‘Mohammed Ibrahim Ismail Al-Awadhi’, the late diplomat and father to Kuwait’s current ambassador.
Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Dowlia, licensed by the Ministry of Information, categorically denied the circulating reports about the withdrawal of the ambassador’s citizenship.
The Kuwaiti Cabinet has recently issued a new circular outlining the obligations of individuals whose citizenship has been revoked under Article 5/Third of the Nationality Law, a provision that encompasses those who gained nationality through dependency.
The directive seeks to clarify privileges between citizenship and legal status and the social and economic realities of those who previously held citizenship, drawing a firm line under privileges no longer available to those without.
While this new circular protects nine entitlements (travel, employment, education, residence ownership, housing benefits, personal assets, investment rights, access to finance and welfare) designed to mitigate the immediate impact of nationality withdrawal, it is clear that Kuwait is firmly asserting its sovereign authority to regulate nationality under the guise of maintaining social order.
The campaign has also stripped citizenship other well-known figures such as Islamic preacher Nabil Al-Awadi and journalist Mubarak Al-Omair, with reports that goalkeeper and preacher Ahmad Al-Tarabulsi could also have been affected.
The increasingly concerning pattern of mass denaturalisation in Kuwait is suggestive of a more concerning question taking root in Kuwait’ society: whether the new Emir is committed to maintaining the rule of law and the fundamental rights and freedoms that have built Kuwait since becoming fully independent in 1961. Citizens are asking – where will it end?
