Tag: Oman

Read in Arabic on Muwatin A British mercenary used a bayonet to puncture the windpipe of a 20-year-old rebel captured in Oman. The victim, Mohammad al-Adid, was stabbed during a brutal interrogation, which saw him stripped naked, head shaved, legs chained and thumbs tied together behind his back. Al-Adid survived the assault in 1966 and […]

Read in Arabic here At least nine properties in London and the south of England with a combined value of approximately £80m are owned by Oman’s elite, Declassified has found. While some may be legitimate investments, others could have been purchased from the proceeds of corruption in the authoritarian Gulf kingdom. The finding follows the […]

An Arab autocracy which used tear gas to crack down on demonstrations against corruption has a luxurious rural residence in the Home Counties, Declassified has found. The Sultan of Oman’s family purchased Wonham Manor as far back as 1980. It has remained in the hands of the secretive Gulf dynasty for the last four decades. […]

Read in Arabic here The last time Maud Quinault spoke by telephone to her five-year-old son, Fahad-Louis, she said he was crying and did not want to be with his dad. “Mummy, please come and get me,” the little boy said. Fahad-Louis has been missing from his mother for two months, since his father, Amur […]

In the late 1970s, a mystery man called Timothy Landon acquired the village of Faccombe, a secluded spot in Hampshire. Instead of accumulating his wealth through business or trade, he had assembled his property portfolio from altogether more dubious activities. Known locally as “The Brigadier” in a reference to his shadowy military past, Landon had […]

Read in Arabic here One of Britain’s most influential military officers in the Middle East has died. Sir Erik Bennett, who passed away last month aged in his nineties, was godfather to the King of Jordan. But his real influence lay in Oman, where he spent three decades secretly advising its Sultan, Qaboos bin Said […]

The government is refusing to reveal the carbon emissions of a new aircraft carrier on a round the world voyage. Ministers sent HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Pacific where it patrolled near Taiwan, worsening UK relations with Beijing.  The gunboat diplomacy took place weeks before crucial climate talks at which Boris Johnson wants China to […]

Read in Arabic here Fifty years ago, US troops began building a military base on the Chagos Islands, a British territory in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Its inhabitants, who numbered several thousand, were forcibly removed to make way for a naval station.  They received almost nothing in compensation for the loss of their […]

Andrew, the Duke Of York, rushed to Jeddah in June 2012 to pay tribute to Crown Prince Nayef, who had passed away months after overseeing a brutal crackdown on Arab Spring protesters.  Among those arrested for organising demonstrations was 17-year-old Ali al-Nimr who would be sentenced to death by beheading and crucifixion. Now a diplomatic […]

Declassified has discovered a secret UK government committee that held meetings with an arms dealer, former oil executive and ex-spy — but parliament is told there are ‘no records’ of what was discussed.

Middle East spy chief who bought a palatial property in the UK from former England football captain John Terry is being accused of corruption and human rights abuses, Declassified UK can reveal.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland is facing fresh scrutiny over its long-standing ‘public order’ and security training of Omani police, following last month’s suppression of protests in the country.

British officials did not consider the environmental impact of a new naval base in the Indian Ocean, despite evidence it will have ‘large adverse’ consequences for a species of whale ‘at high risk of extinction’, Declassified has found.

As Oman’s UK-trained police confront popular protests against unemployment and corruption in the dictatorial Gulf state, the British military prepares to deploy an aircraft carrier to a new UK naval base in Oman, and the head of the Royal Air Force praises his Omani counterpart.

Lord Geidt, tasked with investigating government sleaze, did not tell parliament he was counselling an Arab autocrat. Whitehall insists he complied with transparency rules, but is this what the evidence suggests?

Some of the most senior figures in the British establishment have secretly served as ‘privy councillors’ to a highly repressive dictatorship in the Gulf state of Oman. The elite UK group has included heads of MI6 and the military, a foreign minister, an oil executive, the ex-governor of the Bank of England and one of Queen Elizabeth’s closest aides.

As new evidence emerges of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed holding his adult daughters ‘hostage’, Declassified has found that Queen Elizabeth has met the repressive leader on at least 10 occasions since the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’.

The queen’s second son has held 70 meetings with repressive Middle East monarchies in the decade since the Arab Spring uprisings. Most meetings took place after Prince Andrew’s role as official trade envoy ended in 2011 amid the Epstein scandal, with UK diplomatic support for his Gulf trips lasting into 2019.

Britain’s royal family has met members of autocratic Middle Eastern monarchies nearly once a fortnight since the crackdown on ‘Arab Spring’ protests began 10 years ago this month. Their visits have often coincided with human rights abuses in the Gulf, where pro-democracy activists are punished for criticising the Windsor ties to regimes.

Former British prime minister John Major praised Oman’s dictator, Sultan Qaboos, for passing a law that gave him absolute power, describing it as ‘clearly a most imaginative and constructive step forward’. The law enacted in 1996 by the close British ally effectively banned political parties, independent media and criticism of the ruler.

Britain’s largest intelligence agency, GCHQ, is refusing to publish details of its bases in Oman, where it is believed to operate three surveillance sites.

Britain has 91 troops ‘on loan’ to Oman, where serving UK military pilots are flying Omani fighter jets, helicopters and military transport planes under a secretive scheme designed to bolster the repressive monarchy, Declassified UK can reveal.

Britain’s national press consistently portrays Britain as a supporter of noble objectives such as human rights and democracy. The extraordinary extent to which the public is being misinformed about the UK’s foreign and military policies is revealed in new statistical research by Declassified UK.

The rise of Russian mercenaries in conflicts across Syria, Ukraine and numerous African countries is concerning the UK’s Ministry of Defence, yet Britain appears unlikely to support a ban on such mercenaries because of its own private security industry.