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to detain the Party’s members were not noted in the Residency’s archive at TNA, but

Burrows did say:

we had for a long time been advising against the arrest of members of
the Committee but on this occasion it was we who took the initiative
in proposing action against them and in fact the plans were drawn up
mainly in our office with considerable help being given to the Bahrain
police by my staff and a representative of the Security Services. 848

The constant threat of strikes which at times turned violent, failure to cooperate

with the Government, failure to build on its political gains, the establishment of a

paramilitary organisation, and Al-Bakir’s press conferences abroad (whether

covered accurately or not by the international press) must have all played a part

towards the Residency’s decisive decision in November.

Since Belgrave was no longer the Commandant of the Police he did not take

part personally in the arrests. Al-Bakir recalled in his memoir that he was arrested

at 2.00 am on 6 November from his home in Manama. A British officer and a Cypriot

headed the police unit sent to arrest the NUC’s leader. Al-Bakir claimed that the

police handled him ‘roughly’. The other members arrested on that night included

Al-Shamlan and Al-Alaiwat. All three were later transferred from the main island of

Bahrain to the island prison of Jidda. 849 A fourth frontline member, Ibn Musa, was

arrested later that day, 850 bringing the total number of frontline members arrested

to five out of the original eight founders of the Party.

It was publically announced on 6 November that arrests had taken place of

Al-Bakir, Al-Shamlan, Al-Alaiwat, and Ibn Musa and that the NUC was officially

848 TNA, FO 1016/552, Burrows to FO, 4 April 1957.
849 Al-Bakir, From Bahrain to Exile, 210-11 and 214.
850 Belgrave, Personal Column, 231.

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