IOR/R/15/2/83

The file relates to allegations of unlawful or oppressive behaviour on the part of members of the ruling family of Bahrain, particularly Shaikh Abdulla [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah] and his father Shaikh Easa (also spelled Isa) [Shaikh ‘Īsá bin ‘Alī Āl Khalīfah], Ruler of Bahrain, including oppression of members of the Shiah community in Bahrain (also spelled Bahrein in the file).

The correspondents are the Political Agent, Bahrain (Major Clive Kirkpatrick Daly) and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (and his Under-Secretary). Enclosures to correspondence from the Political Resident consist of correspondence between the Resident and the Deputy and Foreign Secretaries to the Government of India in the Foreign and Political Department. The file also includes petitions from Bahraini citizens.

The papers include:

• reports by the Political Agent on the political situation in Bahrain;
• recommendations by British officials that Sheikh Abdulla be removed from Bahrain (e.g. folios 39, 53-54);
• comments on the problems caused by camels in Bahrain, which were all owned by the Khalifeh [Āl Khalīfah] family, did enormous damage to gardens, and exasperated religious dissensions between Sunnis and Shiahs;
• the trial by Shaikhs Hamad [Shaikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah] and Abdulla of Shaikh Khalid [Khālid] (brother of the Ruler) and his sons following an attack on Bahraini Shiahs at Sitrah, including a copy of the sentence passed, September 1923 (folios 92-105).

The Arabic language content of the file consists of the petitions and the copy of the sentence mentioned above.