Bahrain Revokes 69 Citizenships, Faces Human Rights Criticism

Iran Rights Body Condemns Bahrain’s Mass Citizenship Revocations as ‘Collective Punishment’

WebDesk

10 May, 2026 10:20

Iran Rights Body Condemns Bahrain’s Mass Citizenship Revocations as ‘Collective Punishment’

Iran’s High Council for Human Rights has strongly condemned Bahrain’s decision to revoke the citizenship of 69 people, calling the move an “illegal and arbitrary” act amounting to “collective punishment” against civilians.

In a statement published on Sunday, the body expressed “deep concern” and denounced the measure in the strongest terms, saying the action was unacceptable “in any civilized legal system.”

According to the statement, the people stripped of citizenship include clerics, eulogists, social activists, women, men, “and even children and infants,” who were deprived of their nationality “without any judicial procedures, without legal investigations, outside the jurisdiction of the judiciary, and solely based on the order of the king of Bahrain.”

The statement said the right to nationality is among the most fundamental human rights under international law, citing Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality.”

The Bahraini Interior Ministry said in a statement late last month that it had revoked the citizenship of 69 individuals and their families for “expressing support for Iran (retaliatory) attacks” against US and Israeli military assets across West Asia amid the war of aggression against the Islamic Republic.

The ministry said that the individuals also published posts on social media platforms “glorifying and sympathizing with” regional resistance movements.

The statement further claimed that those stripped of citizenship “undermined the national security by publication of contents online, which caused instability and jeopardized public order.”

Iran’s High Council for Human Rights said the inclusion of infants in the decision not only violated human rights standards but also constituted “forced denationalization” and “collective punishment,” practices that have been strongly prohibited by UN monitoring bodies.

The statement further denounced Bahrain of using repeated allegations of “support for Iran” or “espionage for foreign entities” as a pretext to suppress dissent and systematically violate civil rights.

“Such a repressive approach is reminiscent of inhumane conduct in totalitarian systems and completely undermines the credibility of any claim to the rule of law in Bahrain,” it said.

The body also argued that the move violated the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality in punishment, stressing that depriving children and infants of citizenship bore no relation to the political accusations directed at their parents.

It called on UN human rights bodies, particularly the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Council, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to formally and immediately condemn Bahrain’s action.

It urged Bahrain to restore the citizenship of all affected individuals “without delay,” especially children and infants, and warned that silence or minimal international response would embolden “repressive regimes” to continue violating citizens’ rights and promoting collective punishment in the region.

The statement added that Iran reserved its right to pursue the matter in international forums and called for Bahraini officials responsible for the measure to be identified as “gross violators of human rights.”