This marks the first such mass revocation since 2019, when Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa ordered the restoration of citizenship to 551 individuals.
No information has been provided regarding the identities of those affected, whether they have been arrested, whether they are inside or outside the country, or whether they hold another nationality.
Commenting, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Advocacy Director at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), said:
Background
On Sunday 19 April 2026, King Hamad held a high-profile meeting with senior officials in which he directed the government to begin a crackdown on Bahraini nationals accused of having “betrayed the nation.” The directive explicitly calls for a review of entitlement to Bahraini citizenship, with “appropriate legal procedures” to follow. The following day, Monday 20 April, the Cabinet convened under the Deputy Prime Minister and formally incorporated these directives into its work programme.
The significance of this development is difficult to overstate. Between 2012 and 2019, Bahrain revoked the citizenship of at least 990 nationals, rendering the majority stateless in breach of international law. The language now being used by the King and Cabinet mirrors the framing used to justify those earlier campaigns. There are strong grounds to be concerned that what is now being set in motion represents a comparable or larger-scale operation.
The timing is also notable. The King’s announcement came only four days after a meeting with the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister. Kuwait is itself currently engaged in a mass citizenship revocation campaign, and the proximity of the two events raises concerns about coordinated approaches across Gulf states.
