Victims of transnational repression (TNR) in the UK may lose trust in the British system to take the threats to them seriously, a Select Committee inquiry has been told in relation to cases linked to the governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

In written evidence published by the UK parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights this week, FairSquare, ALQST for Human Rights and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) called on the British government to take a consistent approach to the risk of transnational repression, regardless of the strength or otherwise of its relationship with the perpetrating state.

The Joint Committee is holding an inquiry on transnational repression – “generally understood to include instances of intimidation, violence and harassment by a state against people in another state” – in the UK. 

There has been an increase in cases of transnational repression involving states such as Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE in recent years, partly because human rights and political activity has become more difficult and dangerous inside these states, and so is increasingly carried out from outside.

These states use various methods against people they perceive to be a “threat” who are located in the UK, including: intimidation and harassment; digital surveillance; reprisals against relatives located in victims’ home countries; and charges in absentia.

Giving oral evidence to the inquiry in March 2025, FairSquare director James Lynch said:

“One thing about activists who are subject to these practices is that they are sometimes very stoic people. They have chosen the life of an activist or a political dissident so they tend to play this down. They are working and advocating for people in their home countries who are doing life sentences in jail. They are stoic people, but it is clear that they often face multiple of these practices at once. It has a debilitating effect on their lives and their families’ lives. It takes a toll. They are on constant alert. It is very difficult to explain these things to people because it is poorly understood by the society around them.”

UK response

Citing a range of cases, the three organisations argue in their evidence that there are significant limitations to the British state’s reliance on the police to respond to acts of transnational repression. When a knife was found outside the kitchen window of the founder of ALQST for Human Rights, the police refused to review CCTV footage in the area or to take fingerprints from the knife, telling him that “it costs money” and that “no crime has yet happened”. He has largely stopped reporting incidents unless they are very significant, assuming based on previous experience that they would not be investigated. Meanwhile, Foreign Office officials may advise victims of transnational repression that they cannot deal with their cases, as they are potentially criminal offences.

“If police will only very rarely carry out full investigations, and if civil servants and diplomats are seemingly unwilling to have a substantive discussion about how they might respond diplomatically, it can leave victims effectively high and dry, with no-one to turn to.”

The British government has never made a substantial public statement regarding acts of transnational repression by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia or UAE, governments with which it has close relations. As a rule, the government seeks not to directly criticise these partners in public, and may tend instead to rely on their assurances. After UN experts concluded that the family of BIRD’s director of advocacy were being targeted in reprisal for his work, the British government told Parliament on repeated occasions that it had received “categorical assurances from the Bahraini authorities” that the cases were not reprisals.

Gulf states may attempt to leverage the desire of the British government to attract inward investment, to avoid scrutiny for acts of transnational repression. In 2024 the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia lobbied the then Foreign Secretary to intervene in a legal case brought by a UK-based dissident against the Saudi government for digital surveillance. Saudi ministers told British officials that the case could have “implications for existing and future Saudi investment in the UK”. The UK is currently negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with the GCC.

Calls for action

FairSquare, ALQST for Human Rights, and BIRD are calling on the British government to take the following specific measures to address transnational repression more effectively and consistently:

• Create a clear point of contact for all individuals experiencing transnational repression – whichever country is the perpetrator – to access advice and support.
• Encourage individuals to report all potentially relevant incidents to this point of contact – regardless of whether they would be of interest to law enforcement or not – for monitoring and analysis purposes.
• Provide transparent feedback to victims of transnational repression, through this point of contact, where diplomatic measures have been taken in response to their case reports.
• Provide training to police forces on states which are known to use transnational repression, to ensure complainants are taken seriously when bringing cases forward.
• Report to parliament annually on incidents of transnational repression in the UK and efforts by the Home Office, FCDO and other agencies to address it.
• Ensure that Home Office procedures exclude the possibility of citizenship applications being affected by political considerations or diplomatic representations by other states.

BIRD made its own individual submission to the inquiry, focusing in detail on cases linked to Bahrain. The Tackling TNR in the UK Working Group, of which both FairSquare and BIRD are members, also submitted evidence to the inquiry reflecting the perspectives of its membership organisations.