Page 219 - Begrave Thesis_Neat

of twenty-five statements had been presented by 6 April. 615 The Manchester

Guardian also covered the proceedings of the Board of Enquiry on 7 April but the

newspaper reported that no witnesses had come forward and that the hearings had

been adjourned to the following day. 616

Stephen Harper of the Daily Express published an article on 31 March entitled

‘They all stop for Abdul Aziz’ in reference to Al-Shamlan, the new figurehead of the

NUC. The article highlighted Al-Shamlan’s influence on his followers during his

presence at the Board of Enquiry’s hearings. 617 Harper’s editorial caught the

attention of Eden who demanded more information on the Bahraini nationalist. 618

Eden’s request was based on a letter to the FO by Sir Freddie Bishop the Principal

Private Secretary to the Prime Minister. The note described the article in Eden’s

view to have been rather ‘unpleasant’. 619

The British Embassy in Cairo kept a close eye on Al-Bakir’s movement during

his time in Egypt. The Embassy informed the FO that based on an editorial

published in Egypt’s Al-Ahram (The Pyramids), there had been a meeting in late

March between the Bahraini nationalist leader and Al-Sadat. Al-Bakir was also due

to give a press conference on Bahrain, it said, adding that the British had expelled

Al-Bakir from Bahrain. 620

Trevelyan gave an account to the FO dated 30 March of Al-Bakir’s press

conference in Cairo. He said that Al-Bakir had claimed that he had left Bahrain in

615 ‘Hayet Tahqiq tabda Amalaha’ [The Investigative Committee Begins its Work], Al-Watan, 6 April
1956.
616 ‘Bahrein Inquiry’, The Manchester Guardian, 7 April 1956, 5.
617 S. Harper, ‘They all stop for Abdul Aziz’, Daily Express, 31 March 1956, 2.
618 TNA, FO 371/120545, D.M.H. Riches on Al-Shamlan, 5 April 1956.
619 TNA, FO 371/120545, Bishop to FO, 2 April 1956.
620 TNA, FO 371/120545, Trevelyan to FO, 29 March 1956.

© Hamad E. Abdulla 198