Stateless and forced into exile, Bahraini families stuck in limbo

The tea in Maryam’s glass has gone cold, its surface filming over as she stares out at a rain-streaked window in a suburb of Paris. Thousands of miles away, the sun is setting over the Manama skyline she once called home, a place that now exists for her only in pixelated video calls and the fading memories of her children. Like many others, Maryam is not just an exile; she is a ghost in the eyes of the law, a victim of a policy that has stripped her of her Bahraini citizenship and rendered her stateless.

The revocation of citizenship has become a stark instrument of state policy in Bahrain, leaving hundreds of families in a state of suspended animation. For those forced into the diaspora, the psychological toll is profound. Denied passports and identity documents, these individuals find themselves unable to work, travel, or access basic social services. They are caught in a legal twilight, tethered to a country that refuses to recognize them, while struggling to integrate into societies that view them as perpetual foreigners.