UK government citizenship-stripping practice racist: Analyst

A senior political analyst from London believes the British government’s way of handling citizenship cases related to nationals involved in the war in Syria could lead to massive discrimination against UK nationals who are from different ethnic backgrounds.

Rodney Shakespeare said on Tuesday that UK government’s recent decisions to revoke citizenship of nationals suspected of having a second passport, including a girl of Bangladeshi origin who had joined militants in Syria four years ago, would pose a risk to millions more whose parents are from other countries.

“The UK government is creating a massive subclass of citizens in the UK all of whom could be deprived of their citizenship on the grounds that their parents were born elsewhere, and they will be deprived even if they have not applied for a passport to the other country,” said Shakespeare in an interview with the Press TV.

Shakespeare said the UK has been practicing double standards when it comes to the definition of terrorism in Syria where it has supported armed groups like the White Helmets while simultaneously punishing its own citizens for joining other militant groups.

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Shakespeare said UK has not only deprived its own citizens from their right to having a nationality, but it has also supported the practice of revoking citizenship in countries with grim record of suppression of the dissent.

“The UK government condones the withdrawal of nationality from other citizens of other countries with whom it is in a sinister, corrupt alliance,” he said, adding that London has supported the practice in Bahrain where an autocratic regime has been stripping many people of their citizenship only because they are standing for democracy.

The comments come amid an uproar about London’s handling of the citizenship case of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old woman who was left stateless following a decision by interior minister Sajid Javid earlier this month to revoke her citizenship.

Sajid has faced increasing criticism since Begum’s third and only remaining child died of pneumonia in a camp in northeastern Syria last week.

The opposition and activists have been slamming the government’s “inhuman” and “callous” handling of the case of British citizens involved in war zones like Syria, saying London should allow the UK nationals to return to the country to face prosecution rather than leaving them stranded in those areas.

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