Bahrain Mirror: The local Bahraini Al-Wasat newspaper said that the number of Bahrainis whose citizenships were revoked by the end of 2015 reached 245, mostly over political issues.

The newspaper added that on December 31, 2015 Bahrain's High Court of Appeals approved the death penalty handed down to the first suspect, life imprisonment to 7 suspects, 10-year prison terms to 4 suspects, and verdict to revoke the citizenships of all of the 12 suspects over charges of murdering a policeman in Al-Ekr case on July 4, 2014. Meanwhile, Bahrain's Fourth High Criminal Court issued its verdict against 23 defendants on the same day. The court handed down a death penalty to the first suspect and sentenced all the other suspects to life in prison, revoked the nationality of all suspects and fined the third and fourth 200,000 Bahraini dinars, over founding and joining a terrorist group, murdering a policeman on duty, murdering a civilian, detonating a bomb, having possession of and using explosives and weapons for terrorist purposes, collecting funds for a terrorist group, joining an assembly, rioting and having possession of Molotov cocktails.

It further explained that half of the 245 persons were stripped of their citizenships during last year, including "clerics, journalists and former MPs," which is considered by Amnesty International to be a decision taken based on the political opinions of the victims.

Arabic Issue