Man loses Saudi citizenship after living in Syria for 27 years

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Man loses Saudi citizenship after living in Syria for 27 years

His family has no identity papers.

By Web Report

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Published: Fri 18 May 2018, 11:14 AM

Last updated: Sun 16 Feb 2020, 10:01 PM

Unable to prove his Saudi roots, a man who lived in Syria for 27 years, is now finding it difficult to live in his country as a Saudi citizen.
Kareem Al-Kuaikbi Al-Ruwali lived out of the Kingdom for almost three decades and reportedly could not furnish valid documents to prove his Saudi nationality, according to Saudi Gazette report. Talking to Al-Hayat, Al-Ruwali said he returned to the Kingdom seven years ago after living in Syria for 27 years as a Saudi citizen but his family of 11 is still languishing in Jordan and cannot enter the Kingdom.
Al-Ruwali said he lived in Syria using his old Saudi passport and old Saudi ID card which expired long ago and he count not renew them. He managed to enter the Kingdom from Syria via Jordan where he was unable to renew his identity papers.
Leaving no stone unturned, Al-Ruwali submitted his papers to the Civil Affairs department in Al-Qurrayat, then Al-Jouf and finally Riyadh but all his efforts went in vain. "My papers are still suspended and I am still not considered a Saudi citizen. My family is living a tragic situation because they have no identity papers," he said.
As a feeble link to his Saudi roots, Al-Ruwali said he had a photocopy of a receipt of loan he had obtained from the Saudi Real Estate Development Fund, a deed of a house he built in Al-Qurayat, a photocopy of a commercial registration, and a paper authenticated by the tribe chief affirming that he was a Saudi. "There are 37 citizens who can attest that I am a Saudi and a paper from the Syrian Interior Ministry showing that I was not a Syrian citizen but a Saudi national," he said.
Seventy-year-old Ruwali has suffered strokes, besides other ailments, and myopia. "Can it be possible that I have obtained the Saudi nationality illegally then I entered the Kingdom to follow up my office papers?" he said, demanding an investigation committee to question if he was not a Saudi citizen.
Although, he suffered immensely in Syria during the past two years, he was not able to enter the Kingdom as Saudi embassies inDamascus, Beirut and Amman refused to give him travel documents. He attempted to travel from Syria to the Kingdom a few years ago but failed to enter Saudi Arabia after he received a letter from the Saudi Embassy in Beirut informing him that he was not Saudi and that his papers were forged.
When he entered the Kingdom through Al-Hidaitha border point, his old passport was confiscated and he was instead given a paper stating the date of his entry. Later, he went to the Al-Qurayat Civil Affairs department but they told him that his file was in Sikaka.
Mohammed Al-Jassir, spokesman of the Civil Affairs office in Madinah, said there were office papers concerning him but that he had obtained his identity card illegally. "The concerned departments are currently investigating his case," he added.
 


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