Expat Lady Doctor Gets 5 Years For Citizenship Fraud

A Kuwaiti criminal court has sentenced an expatriate lady doctor to five years in prison on charges of citizenship fraud.

The woman, an Arab national, was found guilty of impersonating a Kuwaiti citizen after stealing the passport of a Kuwaiti man. She then used the document for travel after extensively altering her facial features to resemble those of the citizen.

She was arrested after arriving in Kuwait from her home country with the stolen citizenship ID as immigration officials became suspicious of her accent, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai reported. Her original nationality was not revealed.

Investigations revealed that the defendant is a gynaecologist and had also set up a clinic to treat drug addicts. While on the job, she gained access to the passports of some of her patients, including the victim.

The case surfaced as Kuwait, a country of around 4.8 million people mostly foreigners, cracked down on citizenship fraud.

Kuwait has withdrawn citizenship from hundreds of people since early March due to fraud or holding dual nationality, according to media reports.

The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry has set up a hotline to receive reports about holders of citizenship obtained through forgery.

The ministry’s General Directorate of Nationality and Travel Documents also called on the public to report about Kuwaitis holding dual nationalities.

The directorate urged members of the public with information on forged or dual nationals to report it via the hotline for investigations, promising whistleblowers full secrecy.

Under Kuwait’s naturalisation law, citizenship is withdrawn if the holder obtained it through fraud, false statements, or is convicted of a dishonouring crime or a breach of trust within the first 15 years of getting citizenship.

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