Dubai: Kuwait has deported an opposition figure to neighbouring Saudi Arabia months after revoking his citizenship, his group said Wednesday.
Saad Al Ajmi, former spokesman of the Popular Action Movement (PAM) and former correspondent for the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Arabiya, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon and taken to a police station where he was kept until around 8pm. He was then taken by road to the Saudi city of Khafji, PAM said in a statement.
The Kuwaiti government revoked Al Ajmi’s citizenship on September 29 under Article 11 of the Nationality Law that allows withdrawing citizenship from anyone who held the nationality of another country. Kuwait bans dual citizenship.
A report in Kuwait said Al Ajmi’s nationality was revoked “for possessing the Saudi nationality and for providing personal details that were different from the data in his Saudi file.”
His first public reaction was to tweet that he was ready “to sacrifice his soul and possessions for Kuwait”.
“In my grave the angels will ask me ‘who is your God, who is your Prophet (PBUH), what is your faith’, but they will not ask me ‘what is your citizenship’,” he wrote.
Al Ajmi was among 18 people whose nationalities were revoked on that day with the government citing naturalisation irregularities that included false declarations and illegal dual citizenship as well as security concerns.
In August, MP Faisal Al Duwaisan asked the government to revoke the Kuwaiti citizenship of all people who obtained it illegally irrespective of whether they supported or opposed the policies of the government.
Another lawmaker, Nabeel Fadhl, in October said that the government should deport anyone who is stripped of his nationality.
Kuwait had revoked nationalities in July and August.
— with input from AFP
