Kuwait to withdraw citizenships obtained through fake claims

Kuwait government plans to withdraw the citizenship it has granted to people who did not have the proper qualifications, local media reported on Tuesday.

The government was at the weekly session briefed by adhoc committees on a number of cases in which the Kuwaiti citizenship was granted to people who did not deserve it, the reports said.

No specific cases or numbers were mentioned in the reports amid speculation that people who kept their original nationality would be stripped of the Kuwaiti citizenship.

A full report will be submitted by the interior ministry to the government about the cases as a prelude for legal action, the reports said.

Kuwaiti daily Al Dar said that the investigations covered 1,500 cases and that 35 people were found to have obtained the citizenship fraudulently.

The debate about granting the Kuwaiti citizenship, mainly to the bidoon - stateless men and women who have been living in Kuwait - has been a hot debate in the state and MPs have often sparred over the issue.