Bahrain stripped a powerful Shiite cleric with close ties to Iraq of his citizenship as authorities Monday widened a crackdown against alleged dissidents ahead of next month's elections in the tiny Gulf nation. The move against Ayatollah Hussein Al-Najati – the Bahraini representative of Iraq's most powerful Shiite figure – follows a wave of arrests in Bahrain since August. An Interior Ministry statement issued in Bahrain's capital, Manama, said the passports for Al-Najati, his wife and three children were revoked because their Bahraini nationality was not obtained “through the appropriate legal means.” Stateless citizens in Bahrain can travel on special permits similar to those granted to Palestinians living around the Middle East, but they cannot vote and do not receive state assistance such as housing aid.
