'Henjam. Position and Rights of His Majesty's Government in the Island of Henjam. The Sheikh of Henjam and his Affairs' [‎62r] (5/8)

5
23. The incidents at Tamb and Basidu in the summer of 1928
necessitated consideration of the action to be taken at Hen jam in the event
of Persian aggression under the Telegraph Concession there; and in
September 1928 the Admiralty suggested that the Senior Naval Officer
should be authorised to take action on the lines approved in the case of
Basidu (compare page ^ , para. 25). The Foreign Office, however,
expressed the view that, having regard to the weakness of the British
position at Henjam, and to the desirability of regularising that position,
in agreement with Persia, and of securing the maintenance of the use of
the concession as a naval depot and recreation ground, for which Persian
permission had never been obtained, the Senior Naval Officer should be
instructed that conflict with the Persian authorities in the island, military
or civil, should be avoided in all circumstances save in a grave emergency
when British lives and property are in danger, and that even then force
should be used only in the last resort.
Henjam Wireless Station.
2d. The history of the wireless station established at Henjam in 1916,
the present importance of that station, and the threat to its continued
maintenance constituted by the Persian prohibition of the import of spare
parts, is dealt with in the Memorandum on Wireless in the Gulf on page U
Relations between the Sheikh of Henjam and Persia: 1904-28.
25. The Arab Sheikh of Henjam, now over 80 years of age, is the direct
descendant of the Arab leader to whom permission to occupy Henjam
was granted by the Sultan of Muscat about 1826. He is the hereditary
ruler of the Arabs of the Beni Yas tribe who inhabit the island ; he claims,
as do his people, never to have acquiesced in Persian claims to sovereignty
over Henjam or to have acquired Persian nationality, and so recently as
1927 he informed the Officer Commanding B.M.S. Lupin that he regarded
action in Henjam by the Persian customs authorities against his property
as a violation “ of his rights, as he considered himself a subject of the Sultan
of Muscat.”* The general attitude of the Sheikh and his subjects on the
question of Persian nationality, and their close relations with the Trucial
Sheikhdoms of the Arab coast, and particularly with Dabai, are described
in para. 3 above.
26. His Majesty’s Government, on the other hand, have, as already stated,
consistently held that the island of Henjam belongs to Persia, and that the
claims of the Sultan of Muscat, on which the Sheikh of Henjam to some
extent bases his attitude, cannot be entertained.
27. The gradual assertion of Persian authority in the island since the
establishment on it of a customs port in 1904 (see para. 14 above) has led
during the last 25 years to considerable friction between the local Persian
officials and the Arab inhabitants. Tension was particularly marked
between 1904 and 1907,| during which period an appeal to the Sultan of
MuscatJ by the Henjam Arabs led to a visit to the island by His Highness
in 1905, and a formal protest by him to His Majesty’s Government against
Persian action. A proposal to transfer the Arabs to Basidu was rejected by
His Majesty’s Government in 1906 on political grounds. Difficulty again
arose in 1914.§
A serious incident would appear to a large extent to have been avoided
in the past owing to the knowledge of the Sheikh that His Majesty’s
'Government recognise Persian sovereignty, and the fact that the Persian
customs post lies within the boundary of the British concession.
28. Ill-feeling of long standing came to a head, however, in April 1927,
when, consequent on the seizure by the Persian customs officials of a dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean.
belonging to the Sheikh of Henjam en route to Khassab on the Arabian
coast and carrying Rs. 3,000 in cash, the customs post, though within the
British concession, was attacked and looted by the Sheikh and his followers,
the Customs Mudir being killed, the local Persian Postmaster wounded,
and more serious disturbances being prevented only by the landing of a
Adm. to F.O.,
Sept. 15 1928.
F.O. to Adm.,
Sept. 22 1928
P. 5210/28.
* Report from
S.N.O., Adm. to I.O.,
Aug. 10 1927, P.3045.
t F.O. tel. to Teh.,
34, Feb. 20, 1900.
! Tel. from Pol. Res.
to G. of I.. Dec. 27
1905, P. 301 106.
Tel. from Pol. Res.
to G. of I., Dee. 7
1905, P. 1923/00.
§ Lr. from Pol. Res.
to G. of I., May 10
1914, P. 2407/14.