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Agent viewed the opposition to the code to be an attack against the British since

they were its authors. 353

Ties between Bahrain’s growing nationalist movement and Egypt were

further enhanced during the second half of 1955. One of the steps taken towards

that goal was the Party’s participation on behalf of Bahrain in a conference held by

the World Islamic Youth Conference (WIYC) in Egypt on which Al-Watan reported in

a series of articles. The WIYC’s General Secretary at the time was the Minister of

State and Free Officers’ member Anwar Al-Sadat. 354 Al-Shamlan, a frontline member

of the Movement and other senior members attended the conference. Al-Shamlan

had left Bahrain on 17 June on an unspecified visit to Egypt and Europe for a period

of three months. 355 At the WIYC’s event Al-Shamlan delivered a speech and Ali

Sayyar, the Editor-in-Chief of Al-Watan gave a talk. The Bahraini delegation urged

them to include the ‘Bahraini case’ with other topics of discussion on the conference

agenda and the WIYC organisers accepted their proposal. 356

In Al-Bakir’s memoir, it was the Egyptian Kamal Yaqub, whose position was

not specified by him, who had played an instrumental role in the HEC’s participation

in the WIYC event. 357 Jassim Murad, an associate of the HEC, revealed in an

interview published by Bahrain’s Al-Wasat (The Centre) newspaper in 2004, that

the linking point between the Party and the Egyptian regime was Yaqub, who

353 ‘Charles Gault, Residency’s Report for the Month of September 1955’, in Political Diaries of the
Persian Gulf, vol. 20 1955-1958, ed. R.L. Jarman (London: 1990), 1-9 (3).
354 ‘Mutamar Shabab Al-Alam Al-Islami’ [World Islamic Youth Conference], Al-Watan, 1 July 1955, 1.
355 ‘Khabar A’an Al-Shamlan’ [A News Report on Al-Shamlan], Al-Watan, 17 June 1955, 1.
356 ‘Nashat Wafdana fi Mu’tamar Shabab Al-Alam Al-Islami’ [The Activities of our Delegation to the
World Islamic Youth Conference], Al-Watan, 29 July 1955, 1 and 5.
357 Al-Bakir, From Bahrain to Exile, 105.

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