Court refuses to release two Syrians in connection with fake citizenship

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: The sentence renewal judge on Tuesday rejected a request for the release of two Syrians employed by the Criminal Investigation Department and the Kuwait Municipality, whose father bought a fake Kuwaiti for them from citizens for KD 30,000 had acquired citizenship. They were arrested by Citizenship Investigation officers while the father was outside the country.

The files show that the nationality investigation officers uncovered a case of manipulation of the nationality file. The results of the investigation led to two citizens – two Syrian brothers – whose Kuwaiti citizenship is based on their relationship with a Kuwaiti citizen. During the investigation, they admitted that they were Syrian nationals and that their Syrian father was outside the country, suggesting that he purchased Kuwaiti nationality for them in 2003 for KD 15,000 each.

They also confessed that they have another brother whose nationality is another Kuwaiti citizen and he was also arrested. He confessed that he received Kuwaiti citizenship at the age of seven and when he was twenty and started working, his fake father demanded sums of money from him. When he refused, he went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to obtain a death certificate for him, stating that he had died in a traffic accident.

All of this happened without his knowledge and his death was documented at the Kuwaiti embassy in Riyadh. The document was presented to the Kuwaiti authorities, so this person is legally deceased. For this reason, the Syrian was forced to obtain a passport and a residence stamp. When he was arrested and his fingerprints were matched, the truth of his statement was confirmed by the presence of Kuwaiti and Syrian fingerprints. The two defendants were referred to the public prosecutor’s office for falsifying Kuwaiti nationality, while the third brother was deported.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud, Munif Naif

Al-Seyassah/Arab Times staff and agencies