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A set of speeches were made during the meeting and all, as the Political Agent noted,

agreed ‘in blaming the British for everything that is wrong in Bahrain’. It was

estimated that three to four thousand attended the meeting. 237

Sets of political demands were proclaimed and a petition was forwarded to

the Ruler. The petition included four demands: first, the formation of a ‘Legislative

Assembly’ via general elections; second, the introduction of a Penal Code; third, for

the Government to allow the establishment of trade unions; fourth, the foundation

of a ‘high court of appeal’ to act as an arbiter ‘between the Legislative and Executive

Authorities’. The petition was signed by the eight frontline members of the HEC and

was dated 28 October 1954. 238 Al-Bakir claimed that the petition was given to the

Ruler by hand, by two members of the HEC: Ibn Musa and Abu Dheeb. 239 Belgrave

mockingly described the two HEC members who submitted the petition as ‘a small

tobacco shop owner and a recently-bankrupt boat owner of Hedd’. 240 Belgrave’s

views of the Movement were tied with its individuals, even if the two members of

the HEC were as described by the Adviser, what would it take away from them?

Belgrave was only attempting to self-justify his opposition to the Party by ridiculing

its members. The Adviser also mocked the HEC by describing them as the

presenters of Bahrain’s Magna Carta. 241 Surprisingly, in his memoir, Nutting shared

a similar impression of the members of the HEC, albeit not in a demeaning and

237 TNA, FO 1016/309, Wall to Burrows on Public Sentiment for Representational Government, 25
October 1954.
238 TNA, FO 371/109813, Petition (English translation) from the Higher Executive Committee to HH
Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al Khalifah, 28 October 1954.
239 Al-Bakir, From Bahrain to Exile, 66.
240 Sir Charles Dalrymple Belgrave’s Personal Diaries, 30 October 1954.
241 Sir Charles Dalrymple Belgrave’s Personal Diaries, 26 October 1954.

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