Over 2,000 policemen injured in Bahrain in two years

Eight policemen were dead and an additional 2,300 were injured in clashes with protesters in the past two years in Bahrain during the regional uprising known as " the Arab Spring."

 The report described some of the policemen's injuries as "very serious" and others as "involving amputations."

 These findings were revealed in the third report issued by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) on Sunday to highlight government reforms.

 The high level commission was formed to probe the unrest that occurred in February and March 2011. The commission made 26 recommendations to the government, which stated that 19 were fully implemented and that remaining seven were in progress.

 "Overall, the commission affirms that the government of Bahrain is fully committed to the implementations of the BICI recommendations based on an agenda prepared in advance to ensure full and proper implementation," the report that was publicly released on Sunday stated.

 The report mentions that a unit tasked to investigate complaints of deaths, torture or abuse by officials on protesters and opposition figures investigated 46 deaths including 11 cases that were beyond its jurisdiction.

 It stresses the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) at the Public Prosecution "gave significant attention to all 46 death cases, in addition to those which were not reported, or which were described on social media outlets, or deaths or police officers and non- Bahraini residents, which were not mentioned in non-governmental reports," adding that a total of 25 cases are still before the courts.

 The report states that last February, the SIU received from the interior ministry 118 cases and four cases from the National Security Agency related to complaints involving torture allegations and any forms of abuse made against the personnel of those two agencies.

 The 68-page report states that civil settlement office compensated the families of the victims in all death cases cited in the BICI report and received a total of 421 applications of which 193 cases were selected for payment in the first phase.

 "The compensation budget was approved in two phases, with a total of 2,340,000 Bahraini dinars or over 6,200,000 U.S. dollars for the two phases and for all cases which the committee approved for compensation."

 It also found that the Bahrain government approved and allocated over three million dinars to rebuild places of worship and other areas with all projects estimated to be completed by December next year.