Bahrain has stripped 69 residents of their citizenship and expelled them during the war with Iran, accusing them of betraying the country. The move, reported by Bahrain's state news agency, came after King Hamad said earlier this month that those who betray the homeland do not deserve the honor of belonging to it or the right to live on its soil.
According to the report, the expelled people were said to be of non-Bahraini origin, and the official justification given at the end of April was sympathy for Iranian hostile actions. The New York Times reported that many of those affected were descendants of families with Persian roots who settled in Bahrain generations ago, and that some had posted online videos documenting missile and drone attacks.
Bahrain, a Shiite-majority country ruled by a Sunni royal family, has long accused Iran of interfering in its internal affairs and stirring up its Shiite population, which says it faces discrimination. During the war, Bahrain was hit by hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones, and dozens of its citizens were wounded.
The country is a U.S. ally and hosts a large American base. The Times said authorities summoned one man from each expelled family, confiscated their official documents, and forced them to buy flights to Iran without an appeal process or time to prepare. Some of those expelled and their relatives told the newspaper they do not know why their names were included, and because they have no other citizenship, they became stateless.
