Girl, 8, to get passport after being denied papers since birth

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

An eight-year-old girl will get her passport and identity card after the High Civil Court ruled she has been a citizen since birth.

The child, born in 2018, had no passport or identity card since birth.

The Court ordered the authorities to hand the documents to her father and record the decision in their registers.

Her parents went to court after their request was not met.

They relied on a Sharia ruling confirming the child’s lineage to her father, and a civil judgment ordering the issuance of her birth certificate, but the documents were still not issued.

The case was brought by lawyer Jassim Al Issa, who asked the court to compel the authorities to issue the papers and deliver them to the father.

The defence argued the claim should be thrown out because there was no formal administrative refusal to challenge.

Argument

The judges rejected that argument, saying an administrative decision does not need to be set out in writing and can be inferred from an authority’s conduct.

The way the request was handled could only be understood as a refusal, the court found.

It then turned to the law, citing provisions that restrict passports to Bahraini nationals and treat a person as Bahraini if born to a Bahraini father, once lineage is established under Sharia.

Citizenship

On that basis, the court held that citizenship follows from birth and that the child is entitled to a Bahraini passport.

The judgment also referred to the population register and identity card rules, which require individuals to be registered, assigned a personal number and issued an identity card containing their identifying and civil details.

The court found the child was born in Bahrain to a Bahraini father, that her lineage had been established and that it was not disputed.

Records

It ruled she is Bahraini by operation of law and entitled to both documents, ordering the authorities to issue them and record the matter in their official records.

The court ordered the family to pay the costs of the case.