Kuwait revokes citizenship of 164 people in historic 60-year-old forgery case
Acting Prime Minister Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef Al-Sabah has played a key role in coordinating with the Iraqi authorities and overseeing the joint efforts of State Security, Military Intelligence, and Nationality Investigations to bring the long-standing fraud to light.
A complex case of nationality fraud, uncovered by Kuwaiti authorities through deep investigations and cooperation with Iraqi officials, traces back to 1965 when a man falsely claimed Kuwaiti citizenship under Article 1. He was granted citizenship based on witness testimony that his father had resided in Kuwait before 1920. At the time, he claimed to have no living father, brothers, or uncles.
Over the following years, the man successively brought five of his blood brothers to Kuwait, each obtaining Kuwaiti citizenship using his file and similar false testimonies. In 1973, one brother claimed he had lived in the desert to justify his absence. Witnesses—including members of the National Assembly in the 1970s—testified that they were the sons of a Kuwaiti man, according to Al-Rai daily.
The deception continued until 1982, when the original forger left Kuwait and returned to his actual homeland — Anbar, Iraq — leaving behind his wife and children. There, he lived as a tribal sheikh, remarried, and eventually died about 15 years ago.
The case unraveled when a document from a Kuwaiti liaison officer at the embassy in Abu Dhabi (dated 1992) surfaced, identifying the man as an Iraqi Baathist who had entered Kuwait with the Popular Army during the invasion. DNA testing later confirmed that one of his sons from Iraq was biologically related to the “Kuwaiti” brothers.
This revelation led to the withdrawal of Kuwaiti citizenship from 164 people, including the original forger’s brothers, their dependents, and wives — some of whom had obtained citizenship under Article 8. One of the five brothers was also found to have falsely testified for another individual, who had already lost citizenship in a separate forgery case.
