Ian Henderson was the British-born director of Bahrain’s intelligence service during John Kiriakou’s posting to the American embassy there. Kiriakou described him on the DeProgram programme in September 2025, answering a viewer who asked how he could be friendly with the Bahraini royal family while the security service treated him badly.[1]
Who he was
Kiriakou introduces him by title and repeats the name for emphasis: “When I was in Bahrain, the director of the Bahraini intelligence service was named General Ian Henderson. General Ian Henderson, who was the British colonialist who put down the Mau Mau rebellion.”[1]
In Kiriakou’s account Henderson had spent his colonial career keeping a Black African population from power “until he just had to flee”, and was then recruited: he “went to Bahrain and they said, ‘Hey, can you set up an intelligence service for us?’”[2]
His assessment of the man is unqualified: “he was the worst kind of colonial Brit, to the point where even the Bahrainis were afraid of him.”[2]
The dinner
The illustration is a state occasion. “George H. W. Bush came to Bahrain when I was there and the Emir had a gigantic dinner for him. So the crown prince asked that I be seated at his table.”[2][3]
Kiriakou notes his own age and inexperience: “I was young at the time. How old was I when I went to Bahrain? I was 29.”[3]
His question was flippant. “We’re laughing and joking and I said, ‘Who’s the corpse over here at this other table?’” The crown prince’s response — “Seriously?” — did not stop him, and he elaborated on the figure he had seen: “this 80-year-old man literally wearing a brown leisure suit, with the loud flower shirt underneath and the big wide collar with the wide lapels from the 70s … Who’s the stiff?”[3][4]
The answer
The reply identified him: “That’s General Henderson.” Kiriakou repeated the name back — “That’s Ian Henderson” — and added “he looks like he crawled right out of the 70s.”[4]
The conversation then closed. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, you know what? We don’t talk about General Henderson.’”[4]
Kiriakou’s point is the identity of the man declining to discuss him. His dinner companion was “the heir presumptive, because his grandfather was the Emir and his father was the crown prince” — since elevated to crown prince himself — and even he “was afraid of Ian Henderson to the point where he didn’t even want to speak the man’s name.”[4][5]
The relationship since
The friendship Kiriakou describes has outlasted the posting and his own imprisonment: “The crown prince and I still text each other jokes and stuff. I just heard from him on Saturday, as a matter of fact.”[1]