By B Izzak

KUWAIT: The higher commission for citizenship agreed on Thursday to revoke the citizenship of 133 Kuwaiti nationals, including the main convict of a pro-Iran cell who was pardoned by HH the Amir and freed in 2021. The Interior Ministry said the decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Interior and Defense Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah. The decision becomes effective only after it is approved by the Council of Ministers. One of those who was stripped off his citizenship is Hasan Abdulhadi Hajjeh, the main convict in the so-called Al-Abdalli cell, a pro-Iran and pro-Hezbollah cell which was busted by security forces in 2015.

Hajjeh was sentenced to death by the Criminal Court and later the Court of Cassation, the top court in the country, reduced the sentence to life in jail. The cell comprised 26 Kuwaitis and one Iranian. They were all charged with hiding huge quantities of weapons and ammunition, smuggling arms from Iran to Kuwait through the sea and plotting attacks in the country. Hajjeh was pardoned by HH the Amir in November 2021 and was freed the same month. In the past few months, Kuwait revoked the citizenship of hundreds of Kuwaitis, mostly naturalized, on the grounds of obtaining nationality by cheating.

In the meantime, the Interior Ministry exempted Kuwaitis residing abroad from the measures against citizens who did not make the biometric fingerprints before the deadline on September 30. Authorities have stopped all applications at government departments for those who failed to make the fingerprints. The Interior Ministry is still allowing such people to make fingerprints. The deadline for expats is at the end of 2024.