The search for justice for four Abu Dhabi sailors killed more than 120 years ago

The killings at sea by three Persian brothers shocked the emirate, new research reveals

Al Jahili Fort in Abu Dhabi, circa 1904. Photo: Getty Images

They were killings that shocked and outraged Abu Dhabi in 1903. Four of its citizens were murdered in the heart of the Arabian Gulf and their pearling boat was hijacked. But while the suspects were quickly identified, justice for the dead would prove elusive.

What would become known as the Taona Case has been unearthed in Liwa, the journal of the National Archives. The full story is the result of an investigation by Quentin Morton, author of several books on the history of the region.

The facts of the case were clear. The Abu Dhabi men had set out in their dhow for the pearling banks during the previous year’s season, hiring men from the Arab community living in Taona, a fishing village on the Persian side of the Gulf.

In 1903, Abu Dhabi was ruled by Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, also known as Zayed The Great and the grandfather of UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

A fight for justice

The murdered men were all members of the Suwaidi tribe, also known as the Sudan, and it was to Sheikh Zayed, who was married to the daughter of their sheikh, that their families first turned for justice.

Sheikh Zayed then contacted the British, whose navy controlled the Gulf waters. Britain had imposed a series of treaties on the emirates during the 19th century, in particular the 1892 agreement, signed by Sheikh Zayed, which gave Britain control over Abu Dhabi’s right to deal with foreign powers. It was clear that Britain was responsible for finding the killers and bringing them to justice.

“It was a real test of the 1892 agreements to see whether the British would first of all do anything, and certainly, would they be effective in doing anything,” Mr Morton told The National. “And ultimately it ended in failure because the three brothers weren't brought to justice.”

The Taona Arabs had close connections with their neighbours in the emirates, but things quickly turned to murder. Three brothers from Taona, Gaithou, Mohammed and Ahmed bin Jasim turned on their employers and killed them. They then took the dhow to their home, giving it to the village headman who converted it to a fishing boat. The headman also took the pearls, estimated to be worth between Dh85,000 and Dh128,000 ($23,140 and $34,850) and sold them to a pearl diver for about half the true value.

All of this was discovered by Britain’s agent Khan Sahib Agha Bedt. He also reported that the brothers had accepted about the equivalent of Dh23,500 today as a cut of the crime.

The hunt was now on for the killers but was complicated because their arrest needed to be carried out by the Persian government. Eventually, they were captured and taken into custody, with accounts saying they were in prison in 1905, but managed to escape.

Mohammed was quickly recaptured, but Ahmed, who was shot in the foot, and Gaithou, reportedly the ringleader, escaped. No conviction was secured for Mohammed and he was eventually released.

Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, also known as Zayed the Great or Zayed the First was the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi from 1855 to his death in 1909. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

A battle for compensation

Several years had now passed since the killings and the case was no closer to being resolved. A major issue was compensation for the families of the dead men. However, Britain’s representative in the Gulf, the resident agent Sir Percy Cox, explained to Sheikh Zayed that the Persian government was financially struggling and unable to meet the claim of what today would have been about Dh475,000.

“There is much feeling about the case in Abu Dhabi,” Sir Percy reported in 1905. “Our duty towards the Trucial Chiefs, whom we prevent from taking the law into their own hands in such cases, imperatively demand that adequate justice should be meted out.”

Sir Percy's deputy reported that “a large number of people were complaining that the Sheikh had referred the case to the [British] residency without anything to show for it … this case looms very large in Abu Dhabi right now”.

Britain then opted for a different tactic. A gunboat was sent in the shape of HMS Redbreast. After searching for the missing brothers, the ship arrived off Das Island in July 1909 where they found a large pearling fleet sheltering from a storm. They learnt another fleet was still at sea and that one of the men they were searching for was on board.

The Royal Navy makes progress

The man on board was Gaithou, the eldest of the brothers who was known to be highly dangerous. Just how dangerous became clear when they approached the dhow where he was on board.

“He resisted fiercely … fighting and biting like a demon,” a Redbreast crewman wrote in his journal. “There was a struggle during which he managed to get hold of an axe and one of the men’s revolvers but, before he could do any damage, he went to sleep with three or four taps to the head.”

Detaining Gaithou, the ship was forced to abandon the hunt for the other brothers as they were running low on fuel. Eventually, it was decided to take him to Abu Dhabi and place him in the custody of the new ruler, Sheikh Tahnoun, who had succeeded after Sheikh Zayed’s death.

Sheikh Tahnoun refused, however, saying that if the British condition that Gaithou be kept in chains, he would die in the summer heat. If left unbound, there was a strong possibility he would escape.

Instead, he was imprisoned in Bahrain for the next two years, as the remaining brothers continued to evade arrest until it was decided to release Gaithou on the grounds of lack of evidence.

No resolution

Sheikh Tahnoun of Abu Dhabi and his sons in circa 1910. Getty Images

Eleven years after the murders, the killing of the four Suwaidi men would go unpunished. In Abu Dhabi, another new ruler, Sheikh Hamdan, who had acceded after his brother’s death, again expressed his disappointment, telling Sir Percy “the case is not hidden from your honour”.

“Up to this date, we have seen no result in the shape of the recovery of our rights from the perpetrators of this hideous crime.”

The three brothers disappeared from records. In an attempt to placate the families of the murdered men and the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, compensation equating to about Dh350,000 today was paid out by Britain using funds from a fine on Dubai after an incident in 1910 in which a failed attempt to find gun smugglers had left 37 local people and four British servicemen dead.

The failure to obtain any form of conviction and the many years that passed between the killings and compensation exposed the limits of Britain’s supposed supremacy and power in the Arabian Gulf, Mr Morton said.

“Reading through the files, you can see, the [British] political representative couldn't just click his fingers and a ship appeared. He had to order a ship, and the ship had to be available, had to be fuelled or had to go somewhere to be restocked with coal. And of course, when you're in the pearling grounds looking for someone, it's a bit of an open-ended commitment. They didn't know how long they'd be out there looking.

“There were logistical problems, which I don't think were fully understood. I think there was an appreciation of the Royal Navy and the power of bombardment but perhaps what wasn't understood was the fact that the British ran things on a shoestring relative to their other commitments to the world.”