Over 500 Bahrainis stripped of their citizenship since 2012

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - In recent months, Manama has stepped up citizenship revocations amid an intensifying crackdown on dissent.

Many of those who had their nationality revoked have been expelled from the country. Those who remain are unable to manage their properties, lose access to state services including health care and are unable to register the births of their children.

156 Bahrainis have had their citizenship revoked this year alone.

On Wednesday, a Manama court sentenced 10 defendants to life imprisonment and stripped 11 of their citizenship. Earlier in the week, the country’s top military court handed down six death sentences and also revoked the citizenship of 13 defendants.

The right to a nationality is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Bahrain is a state party.