Slavery in Persian Gulf States

This file contains correspondence relating to:

• HMG's advice to Gulf Sheikhs to resist attempts by Saudi Arabia to recover runaway slaves
• Attempts to recover British protected persons who have been enslaved in Saudi Arabia, including the case of Afrah Bint Mohammad who was kidnapped from Buraimi
• The extinction, in Bahrain, of forced unpaid labour in date gardens and debt bondage in pearl diving
• The regulations governing pearl diving, issued by the Ruler of Qatar
• The manumission of slaves across the Trucial Coast, including: Id Bin Suwaid, a slave of the Ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Shakhbut Bin Sultan Al Nahyan who complains of ill-treatment by the Ruler's son Sheikh Saeed Bin Shakhbut Al Nahyan; and Nubi Bin Shambi al Baluchi who fled from Turki Bin Abdulla Al Ataishan and found refuge with Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan
• The UN questionnaire on slavery
• HMG's decision to drop the reference to slavery in its statement on Buraimi, but investigate the revival of the trade since the arrival of Turki
• The procedure for issuing manumission certificates in the Gulf States
• Information on slave traders and the systems they employ
• The interception and search for women from the Bani Ka'ab being transported to Saudi Arabia by suspected slavers such as Khalifa Bin Majed a cousin of the Ruler of Dubai
• An enquiry as to whether HMG has evidence that Ibn Saud previously admitted his inability to thwart slavery in Buraimi, as this may support the British case in the dispute at the UN
• An oil company's wish to do its utmost to assist former slaves wherever possible, but only when it does not impair its priority of maintaining good relations with the Rulers
• Information from Sheikh Zayed that Turki recently received two slaves from Nizwa as a gift for Ibn Saud
• Statements requesting manumission, including thumbprints, by Marzuq Bin Thani, enslaved by Mohammad Bin Beti of Dubai, and Raba Bin Saleem, enslaved by Khalifa Bin Saeed of Dubai
• The payment of a reward to Saeed Bin Khalaf for information supplied
• The arrest and release of Mohammad Hasan Hishti by the Kuwaiti authorities; and the corresponding investigation including the interviewing of witnesses
• Information about illicit movements across the Red Sea from the African Coast
• The inability of the Trucial Coast Rulers to abolish domestic slavery because of the lack of funds to compensate the owners
• An instruction to C M Pirie-Gordon to insist that the rulers not recommend slaves for employment at oil companies at the next Trucial States Council meeting.