A letter from those Displaced from Bahrain to His Holiness, Pope Francis

Your Holiness, Pope Francis,

If it were possible, we would have sat with you at the table of dialogue in our homeland, whose soil we long to smell. We, the expatriates and forcibly displaced, are an aspect of this crisis that has afflicted our country, not since the events of the 2011 Arab Spring, but rather extending back to more than five decades. Some of us emigrated in the 1970s, during the decade when our country gained its independence, and we enthusiastically participated in the formation of its constitution and inauguration of its parliament. This; however, did not last more than a couple of years, as the ruling family shut down the parliament, suspended the constitution, and arrested hundreds of activists, while dozens fled the country, who still live among the diaspora.

Your Holiness the Pontifex,

Today, 550 Bahraini families live abroad and among their members are victims, whose nationalities have been stripped from them. You can imagine the magnitude and impact of this number when you know that the population of our country is 700,000, a number that is almost close to the population of the State of the Vatican City, which amounts to 800,000.

The campaign of revoking the citizenships of political opponents began in 2012, and the frequency of citizenship revocation increased in 2015 and 2018, before stopping in 2020, thanks to the international efforts of human rights activists and organizations. This is one of the dozens of open-ended issues in our homeland that have no solution or potential dialogue in sight. Affected families feel betrayed and abandoned, and dozens of families are trapped in exile to face the world with no nationality, no right of return, and no minimally preserved dignity.

The number of decisions or sentences that led to revocation of citizenships is as follows: 31 cases in 2012, 21 in 2014, 208 in 2015, 90 in 2016, 156 in 2017, 289 in 2018, 181 in 2019, in addition to 551 cases, where the king did not agree to restore citizenships despite their arbitrary withdrawal.

Your Holiness the Pontifex,

We believe that faith is the companion of emigration, as the prophets, apostles and saints emigrated, bearing the torch of truth, human principles, and the word of God. We follow their footsteps, carrying with us their words and the laws of human rights, to achieve justice in our country. In our holy book, there's a description of the fate of emigrants-the Holy Qur'an, 4:100, says: "Whoever migrates in the way of Allah will find many havens and plenitude in the earth." This refers to vast lands, potential opportunities, and extended spaces, through which the emigrant expands his horizons and sources of livelihood, and what he was unable to achieve in the country that he left. The emigrant is born again in the other lands of God, but does not forget the homeland that gave birth to him. He will still yearn for it and dream of saving it from tyranny and injustice, and this is what calls us to address Your Holiness to help our country overcome its crisis.

Your Holiness the Pontifex,

The authorities of Rome at the time fought against Christ, brutally punished his messengers, and expelled his saints. Rome even tortured John the Apostle, and before sending him to exile, cast him into a cauldron of boiling oil. To the beat of expulsion, displacement and violations, festivals and celebrations are held to cover up their crimes. We ask Your Holiness not to allow this conference to be another festival that obscures our suffering, pain and expatriation.

Arabic Version