DUBAI (Reuters) – A report that slammed Bahrain for using systematic torture to crush pro-democracy protests has put pressure on the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state to take some steps toward political reform but the opposition doubt anything substantive is in the works.

The hardhitting findings of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), headed by international rights lawyer Cherif Bassiouni, vindicated majority Shi’ites and opposition groups over claims of repression during martial law brought in after the government broke the protests up.

MANAMA (Reuters)- Bahrain will start new talks on political reforms and overhaul its security policies but still blames Iran for fomenting civil unrest when protesters inspired by Arab Spring uprisings took to the streets this year, the foreign minister said on Friday.

Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa was talking after an inquiry into the unrest and the government crackdown to quell the protests came out with a hardhitting report this week that described systematic torture of detainees.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahrainis, emboldened by a rights enquiry that found evidence of systematic abuse during the crushing of pro-democracy protests this year, clashed with police on Thursday after the funeral of a Shi’ite man who died a day earlier.

Some 10,000 people from the majority Shi’ite community in the Gulf Arab state took to the streets of the town of Aali, chanting slogans that were taken from the inquiry led by international rights lawyer Cherif Bassiouni.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahrain’s security forces used excessive force to suppress pro-democracy protests earlier this year, torturing detainees to get confessions, an inquiry panel charged with investigating abuses said on Wednesday.

The government commissioned report, designed to help heal sectarian divisions between the island kingdom’s Sunni rulers and majority Shi’ites, acknowledged five people had been tortured to death but said abuses were isolated incidents.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahrain’s security forces used excessive force to suppress protests in the island kingdom earlier this year, including torture and forced confessions, an inquiry panel charged with investigating abuses said on Wednesday.

The panel, led by Egyptian-American international law expert Cherif Bassiouni, was formed and funded by Bahrain’s government five months ago in an attempt to address charges of human rights abuses during the crackdown.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahraini security forces chased youths in a Shi’ite town Wednesday and one man was killed when his car was hit by a police vehicle, activists said, hours before the release of a report on the sectarian strife that has roiled the kingdom.

Witnesses said riot police in 4×4 vehicles sped through the streets of Aali, outside the capital Manama, in pursuit of dozens of teenagers, before seizing one and beating him with batons as helicopters circled overhead.

Manama, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Inflation in Bahrain is
under control and the kingdom’s banking system remains liquid
and stable, the Gulf Arab country’s central bank governor said
on Tuesday.

“Inflation in Bahrain is under control,” Rasheed al-Maraj
told reporters at an Islamic finance conference in Manama.

DUBAI, Nov 21 (Reuters) – Bahrain admitted on Monday
its forces had used excessive force and mistreated detainees
during pro-democracy protests, as it awaited the release of an
independent report expected to criticise the Gulf state’s
handling of the unrest.

“The government has carried out its own assessments and
conducted its own investigations. These investigations have
revealed things to praise as well as things to deplore,” said a
cabinet statement sent to Reuters in English.

DUBAI, Nov 21 (Reuters) – Bahrain admitted on Monday
its forces had used excessive force and mistreated detainees
during democracy protests, as it awaited the release of an
independent report expected to be critical of the Gulf state’s
handling of the unrest.

“The government has carried out its own assessments and
conducted its own investigations. These investigations have
revealed things to praise as well as things to deplore,” said a
cabinet statement sent to Reuters in English.

DUBAI/TEHRAN, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Iran denied on Monday
it had any link to an alleged plot to stage attacks in Bahrain
and a lawyer for two accused men said reports they had confessed
were not true.

Bahrain said last week Qatar had handed over four men who
Manama accuses of planning to attack the Interior Ministry, the
Saudi embassy and a causeway linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
It said a fifth was arrested in Bahrain.