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and would eventually lead to the establishment of a Labour Law in Bahrain as the

thesis highlights later. An early Egyptian incursion in Bahrain came with the first

official visit of members of the Egyptian military regime following the coup when

Major General Mohammed Ebrahim, the Egyptian Army’s Chief of Staff, arrived on a

short visit to Bahrain en route to Pakistan in February 1953. Ebrahim was

accompanied by a delegation of sixteen officials. A welcoming ceremony was

organised for the guests at Bahrain’s Al-Ahli Club. Regarding the visit, Bahrain’s

nationalist newspaper Al-Qafilah declared that Bahrainis had met the Egyptian

officers, ‘as if they had met [the whole] of Egypt’. It continued in admiration,

‘Looking at the faces of those heroes, one could see the expression of hope of what

one aspires to obtain through Egypt from grace and renaissance’. 115 In addition to

Ebrahim’s visit, Mustafa Amin owner of Egypt’s Akhbar Al-Youm (The News of

Today) newspaper and CIA agent (unknown to be one at the time), paid a visit to

Bahrain as part of his tour of the Arab World. 116 The British Residency sensed a

level of agitation fomenting against the person of Belgrave and his centralisation of

the administration in 1953. In a letter from Hay to the FO, the Resident believed

that agitation was mainly a result of editorialisng in Bahrain’s nationalist press. 117

The Egyptian Free Officers’ Revolution Command Council (RCC), which was

established to manage the affairs of the country, announced on 18 June 1953 the

foundation of the Egyptian Republic and the official abolishing of its monarchy.

115 ‘Ma’a Nasoor Al-Nile’ [With the Hawks of the Nile], Al-Qafilah, 13 February 1953, 1.
116 ‘Mahthar Al-Shahar: Daga’iq ma’a Al-Ustad Mustafa Amin’ [This Month’s Report: A Few Minutes
with Mustafa Amin], Sawut Al-Bahrain, March-April 1953, 33 and 38. For information on Mustafa
Amin’s role with the CIA see S. Dorril, MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence
Service (New York: 2002), 602.
117 TNA, FO 371/104387, Hay to FO, 15 April 1953.

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