Portugal to grant citizenship to descendants of persecuted Jews

Associated Press in Lisbon

Portugal is to introduce a law granting citizenship rights to the descendants of Jews it persecuted 500 years ago, following Spain’s adoption of similar legislation last year.

The cabinet spokesman Luís Marques Guedes said the government passed changes to its nationality law providing dual citizenship rights for Sephardic Jews, the term commonly used for those who once lived in the Iberian peninsula.

The rights will apply to those who can demonstrate a “traditional connection” to Portuguese Sephardic Jews, such as through “family names, family language, and direct or collateral ancestry”.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/29/portugal-citizenship-descendants-persecuted-sephardic-jews