Guinness World Records accused of whitewashing repressive regimes. British academic forced to sign false confession in UAE says human rights should outweigh burnishing the reputation of authoritarian nations with fun record breakers.

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 paid-for 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”.

Read more at The Times.co.uk