# Abdul Amir al-Jamri > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Abdul Amir al-Jamri," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abdul-amir-al-jamri/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The Bahraini cleric who led the Shia opposition during the 1990s uprising, and whom John Kiriakou interviewed for a human rights report in 1991 — an interview that had the Bahraini prime minister demanding, within the hour, that both American officers be expelled from the country.* - **Country:** Bahrain - **Role:** Leader of the Shia opposition in the [1990s uprising](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bahrain-intifada-1994) - **Kiriakou's contact:** Interviewed him in 1991 for the human rights report - **Consequence:** The prime minister demanded both interviewers' expulsion **Abdul Amir al-Jamri** was the cleric who led Bahrain's Shia Muslims during the uprising that began in 1994, and, in [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account, the reason he was the single most useful officer in the American embassy on the subject: *"I was literally the only person in the embassy who had ever actually met Abdul Amir al-Jamri."*[1] ## The 1991 interview Kiriakou had met him on an earlier official trip to Bahrain in 1991. The embassy's junior political officer — later ambassador to Kuwait — was the human rights officer and wanted to press the Bahrainis over their treatment of the Shia, so the two of them went to interview the old man for the human rights report.[1][2] They were back at the embassy within the hour to find the ambassador waiting on the steps, which was not normal. He asked whether they had just talked to Abdul Amir al-Jamri, and explained how he knew: [the prime minister](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bahrain-prime-minister-mr-10-percent) had personally telephoned to say he wanted Kiriakou expelled from the country *"like today"* and his colleague expelled *"yesterday."* Kiriakou apologised. The ambassador told him not to: *"this is exactly what I want you guys to do. I want you to be out there talking about human rights and documenting these crimes."*[2][3] ## The uprising By the time Kiriakou returned to Bahrain in 1994 as the embassy's second secretary for economic affairs — and its human rights officer — what he calls a civil uprising bubbling beneath the surface had begun to explode. The government responded by sending police into the Shia villages, then the military with armoured personnel carriers and in some cases tanks, and began executing people, which had previously been very rare.[4][5] Kiriakou's own reporting work made him personally unwelcome. Meeting the prime minister at a lift, he was held by the hand and told *"you've been very busy in our little country"* until he physically pulled his hand back; asked afterwards by the ambassador what that had been about, he explained that he had interviewed every human rights lawyer in the country, al-Jamri's wife and son among them, and been to every Shia village on the island.[6][7][8] ## See also - [Bahrain Intifada (1994)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bahrain-intifada-1994) - [Bahrain Prime Minister "Mr. 10 Percent](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bahrain-prime-minister-mr-10-percent) - [Bahrain Posting (1994–1996)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bahrain-1994-1996-posting) - [Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/isa-bin-salman-al-khalifa) ## Sources 1. S1E5 Singin' In Bahrain (2025-11-24), at 11:42. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69224fd4e842b164ee8d9071/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-24-dead-drop-s1e5-singin-in-bahrain/ 2. S1E5 Singin' In Bahrain (2025-11-24), at 12:16. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69224fd4e842b164ee8d9071/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-24-dead-drop-s1e5-singin-in-bahrain/ 3. S1E5 Singin' In Bahrain (2025-11-24), at 12:47. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69224fd4e842b164ee8d9071/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-24-dead-drop-s1e5-singin-in-bahrain/ 4. S1E5 Singin' In Bahrain (2025-11-24), at 09:05. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69224fd4e842b164ee8d9071/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-24-dead-drop-s1e5-singin-in-bahrain/ 5. S1E5 Singin' In Bahrain (2025-11-24), at 11:09. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69224fd4e842b164ee8d9071/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-24-dead-drop-s1e5-singin-in-bahrain/ 6. S1E5 Singin' In Bahrain (2025-11-24), at 22:47. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69224fd4e842b164ee8d9071/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-24-dead-drop-s1e5-singin-in-bahrain/ 7. S1E5 Singin' In Bahrain (2025-11-24), at 23:19. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69224fd4e842b164ee8d9071/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-24-dead-drop-s1e5-singin-in-bahrain/ 8. S1E5 Singin' In Bahrain (2025-11-24), at 23:50. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69224fd4e842b164ee8d9071/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-24-dead-drop-s1e5-singin-in-bahrain/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abdul-amir-al-jamri/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt