Imprisonment of the Committee of National Union leaders

This file contains correspondence relating to:

• A request by the Governor of St Helena for advice on the treatment of the prisoners, and guidance on matters such as diet, religious requirements, recreations, supply of literature and the treatment of incoming and outgoing correspondence by the prisoners from Bahrain
• The objections of the authorities against the statement that the two arrested members of the Committee of National Union will be chained as reported by The Times on 22 January 1957
• The concerns of B A B Burrows about an article in the Daily Herald from 23 January 1957 and the subsequent statement issued by HMG on the prisoners transferred to St Helena
• The most up-to-date list of Bahrainis who have recently been sentenced for political reasons to detention or banishment or both, obtained by E F Henderson from police in Bahrain
• The delivery of Abdul Rahman Al Bakir, Abdul Aziz Al Shemlan and Abdulla Al Aliwat into the safe custody of J D Harford, Governor of St Helena, 27 January 1957
• The parliamentary questions by William Warbey MP to Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd
• An extract from Committee of National Union (CNU) Proclamation No. 15 of 2 February 1955; First Notice by the Higher Executive Committee to the Respected People of Bahrain; a copy of CNU Proclamation No. 7 to the Struggling People of Bahrain, 3 Rabi Al Thani 1374; a copy of Proclamation No. 10 by the Higher Executive Committee, 10 December 1954; a cable from CNU to Thaqafi Al Qawm, Kuwait, signed by Shemlan, 22 March 1956; a message from C D Belgrave to the Commandant of State Police, 1 November 1956; a letter from Shemlan to Colonel Anwar Al Sadat on the Penal Code, 1 August 1955; a letter from the Ruler of Bahrain, Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa to the CNU; and a series of press cuttings from the Montreal Gazette, Yorkshire Post and Daily Worker
• A proclamation by the National Commandos found among the possessions of Aliwat; a partly hand-written and partly typed account of Shemlan's contacts with the press; and a message from the Liaison Committee of the National Arab Congress to Bakir
• 'Resume of the Proceedings against Five Members of the Committee of National Union'
• The adjournment debate on the transfer of prisoners from Bahrain to St Helena, 7 March 1957.