Repressive states racking up new Guinness records

Guinness World Records has been accused of laundering the reputations of some of the world’s most repressive governments by helping to set records for police forces in the United Arab Emirates and the military in Egypt.

Research by The Times indicates that the UAE can boast of 526 records after the gulf state spent millions of pounds on paidfor consultations to generate favourable publicity.

Of these, 21 are credited to the region’s police forces, including the Abu Dhabi police department’s certificate for “most signatures on a scroll”. The record was published in 2018, a month after the British government negotiated the release from prison in Abu Dhabi of a British academic who was forced to sign a false confession claiming he was an MI6 spy.

Matthew Hedges, who was researching for a doctorate from Durham University when he was sentenced to life imprisonment, has called upon Guinness World Records (GWR) to rescind the certificate and any others that have arisen from PR exercises to benefit the UAE.

GWR is not explicit about which records it facilitates in return for money, but certificates awarded to UAE police include “most people in an online video chain passing and using a handheld transceiver” (303), “longest handshake relay” (1817) and “largest natural disaster awareness lesson” (1797).

James Lynch, co-founder of human rights organisation FairSquare and a former British diplomat based in the Middle East, said he was also concerned about GWR’s activities in Egypt, which has been ruled by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi since he swept to power in a military coup in 2014. Egypt was credited with 22 records in 2014, and now has 110.

GWR said in a statement that its record titles “cannot be purchased”, and that it merely licensed its brand and offered the chance to have an adjudicator at a record attempt.

Times research indicates there has been a surge in records set in countries with authoritarian regimes, including Saudi Arabia, where 135 out of 223 records arose from paid-for consultations.