Manama: Kuwait is to drop the deportation exceptions it had extended to Syrian and Yemeni expatriates who had broken the law, explaining that the higher interests of the country were much more significant than any other considerations.

Anyone who breaks the laws or commits a felony should be deported as per the interests and security of Kuwait, the committee tasked with studying the cases of expats on the deportation list, said.

“Whoever does not respect the laws of Kuwait will be deported, even if there is an armed conflict in his home country.

In the past, Syrians and Yemenis on the deportation list used to be pardoned by the interior ministry in consideration of the difficult humanitarian situation in their country,” a source familiar with the work of the committee said, Kuwaiti daily Al Rai reported on Wednesday.

“However, with the increase in the number of crimes and in the number of Syrians and Yemenis in the deportation centres, the committee said that any expatriate who commits a felony should be deported immediately and regardless of his or her nationality. The conditions in some Arab countries that halted the deportation of their citizens have improved.”

The public prosecutor said there were no exceptions to deportations ruled by a court of law, regardless of the nationality.

The ministry of interior, the public prosecution and diplomatic missions in Kuwait concerned with the deportation of their citizens have been cooperating on the issue, the source added.

In November last year, the Ministry of Interior released 50 out of the 67 Syrians held at the deportation centre as a gesture of good will.