Fawaz Al-Kathiri is a Kuwaiti political dissident and online commentator living in exile who has publicly criticised the Kuwaiti authorities and advocated for political reform and freedom of expression. In recent years, the Kuwaiti authorities have intensified reprisals against him and his family as part of a broader crackdown on dissent and the arbitrary revocation of citizenship in Kuwait. On 04 May 2026, the Supreme Committee for the Investigation of Kuwaiti Citizenship, headed by Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah, decided to revoke the citizenship of his father, Nayef Rakhees Dhahi Al-Fadhli, aged 70, along with several family members, in what human rights organisations described as collective punishment targeting relatives of political opponents. The decision was later approved officially by the Kuwaiti Council of Ministers under the provisions of Article 13 of the Kuwaiti Nationality Law, which allows citizenship revocation on broad grounds linked to alleged threats to the “higher interests of the state”. A year earlier, the Kuwaiti authorities had also revoked the citizenship of Fawaz Al-Kathiri and his sons despite the absence of any evidence of forgery or wrongdoing against them, while relatives and supporters stated that they had served the country with loyalty and competence. The Gulf Centre for Human Rights reported that the decision formed part of an escalating policy of using nationality revocation as a political weapon against dissidents and critics living abroad. Earlier, on 07 April 2025, security forces arrested Fawaz Al-Kathiri’s father after summoning him for interrogation. His detention was widely viewed as retaliation against Fawaz Al-Kathiri’s online political activity from exile. Human rights organisations warned that the arrest demonstrated the Kuwaiti authorities’ growing practice of targeting family members of dissidents in order to silence criticism. The case emerged amid a wider campaign in which thousands of people in Kuwait have reportedly been stripped of citizenship, including political opponents, activists and individuals accused of criticising the government.