The Legitimacy of Deprivation of Nationality as a Punishment from the Perspective of International Law by Analyzing the Government of Bahrain's Action

The right to nationality is the basic and fundamental human rights and it may be interpreted as the right to have rights. Nowadays, the fact that each State determines the conditions of acquisition or loss of its nationality according to its own laws has become an internationally accepted principle. With the increase in terrorist attacks in recent years and the subsequent legislation on the laws of deprivation of nationality aimed at punishing such actions, including in France, as well as the government of Bahrain’s actions in deprivation of the nationality of its political opponents, the present article seeks to answer the question of whether the ban on deprivation of nationality is legitimate under international law? Deprivation of nationality is legitimate if it abides by the three rules of customary international law including the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality, non-discrimination and avoidance of statelessness and in case of violation of these rules would be illegitimate. Bahrain's government action is illegitimate due to its arbitrary and discriminatory nature. States practice for unwillingness toward the deprivation of nationality as a punishment is changing.