Exiles v Oligarchs
Directors: Phil Miller and Moosa Mohammed
Declassified UK

THE latest documentary from estimable investigative media organisation Declassified UK puts the magnifying glass on the special treatment given by the British government to despots and oligarchs from the Gulf state and how the victims, the exiles, of their tyrannical rule are fighting back.

Directed by Declassified UK’s intrepid investigative journalist Phil Miller and exiled Bahraini photojournalist and cameraman Moosa Mohammed, the film begins by highlighting the double standards of the British government.

As Phil, who also narrates, says: “Although UK ministers sanction some oligarchs, especially Russians, over human rights abuses, Arab despots and their luxury lifestyles appear protected by Britain’s Establishment.”

Instead Gulf oligarchs of repressive regimes with woeful human rights and corruption records are seen watching horse races with the Queen and Prince Andrew, being trained at Sandhurst and allowed to buy up multimillion-pound country piles.

The Sultan of Oman and his family have owned Surrey mansion Wonham Manor, which has an estimated value of £28 million, since 1980. It is among at least nine properties in London and the south owned by Oman’s ruling elite, with a combined estimated value of more than £80m.

Yet only in August, three Omani businessmen were forcibly disappeared after staging a peaceful sit-in against unaffordable new taxes, and last year the Arab autocracy used British-made tear gas to crush dissenting protesters demonstrating against corruption and unemployment.

The documentary also features footage of a protest against the visit of King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, the ruler of Bahrain, to the UK where prominent Bahraini human rights activists Sayed Alwadaei and Ali Mushaima are stopped by police.

Alwadaei, director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (Bird), shouts “dictator of Bahrain! You have blood on your hands” before being handcuffed by police.

Mushaima staged a hunger strike outside the Bahrain embassy last year to call for the release of his father Hassan Mushaima, a political activist currently serving a life sentence and detained more than 10 years ago following his involvement in the Bahraini uprising during the Arab spring.

The film again raises questions as to why the UK government under former PM David Cameron sent fighter jets to help protesters in Libya topple Muammar Gaddafi while helping Saudi Arabia to crush the Bahraini uprising with UK-made armoured vehicles used by its national guard.

Yet Bahrain’s King Hamad and his family can enjoy living in the lap of luxury when in Britain, as they own Cotswolds estate Glympton Park, which they bought off a Saudi royal for more than £120m.

Saudi Arabia’s use of British weapons to bomb Yemen is also in the crosshairs, along with some satisfying footage of Saudi General Ahmad Asiri being utterly humiliated by protesters on a visit to the UK where he is egged as activist Sam Waldron attempts to place him under a citizens arrest.

And it is Waldron that raises the ultimate elephant in the room: “Why are we allowing this war criminal to wander around the British streets?”

Available on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn8DE5THur4&t=1422s