Inquiry finds Bahrain used torture on protestors

Bahrain’s security forces used excessive force to suppress pro-democracy protests earlier this year, and tortued detainees to get confessions, an inquiry panel has said.

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

However the inquiry, led by Egyptian-American international law expert Cherif Bassiouni, dismissed Bahrain’s allegation of Iranian interference in fomenting unrest, saying that was not supported by any evidence.

“In many cases security agencies in the government of Bahrain resorted to excessive and unnecessary force,” Mr Bassiouni said at the king’s palace, adding that some detainees suffered electric shocks, and beatings with rubber hoses and wires.

Sheikh Ali Salman, head of the Shia Wefaq bloc which quit parliament over the unrest, said: “We cannot say Bahrain is turning a new leaf yet … because the government that carried out all those abuses is definitely not fit to be given the responsibility of implementing recommendations.”

Bahrain’s Shia majority, inspired by uprisings that toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt, took to the streets in February demand political reforms but protests quickly escalated into the worst sectarian political violence since the mid-1990s.

The ruling al-Khalifa family declared martial law and called in troops from fellow Sunni Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to crush the protests.

The inquiry panel said there was no official policy of abuse. The panel – which said 35 people were killed, including five security personnel – urged a review of sentences handed down to protesters.