Bahraini protestor killed by police vehicle

Over 30 people have been killed since uprisings began in February Mourners gathered in Bahrain on Saturday for the funeral of a young protester killed by a police vehicle as security forces dispersed a demonstration. The protestor was killed as Shiite demonstrators rallied against the country's Sunni rulers near an American naval base.
The violence occurred just days before an international panel is due to release a highly anticipated report on the unrest that has killed more than 30 people since February.
Bahrain has seen months of anti-government protests and punishing crackdowns in the tiny but strategically important Gulf country, the home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, that began when the country’s Shiite majority started campaigning for greater rights and freedoms.
The nation's security forces was controversially helped by Saudi Arabia's military to violently repress protests in the country.
Hundreds of protesters, opposition leaders and Shiite professionals like lawyers, doctors and nurses have been detained and tried on anti-state crimes in a special security court since the beginning of protests ignited by uprisings sweeping the Arab world.
Security forces have clashed with protesters almost daily since authorities launched a crackdown on dissent in March.
“Our boy was dead and they left him laying on the street for hours,” said an uncle of the dead protestor before his nephew’s funeral in Bahrain’s oil hub of Sitra on Saturday.
A report by the state-run Bahrain News Agency said a police vehicle skidded into a group of “rioters... committing acts of sabotage” due to an oil spill on the road, killing the boy. The BNA report said authorities are investigating the incident that occurred just before 1:00 a.m. Saturday.
The report by The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, which has been probing alleged abuses during the unrest, is due out on Wednesday.
The five-member panel is headed by Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian-born professor of international criminal law and a former member of U.N. human rights panels. It was set up in July with the consent of Bahrain’s rulers.
Over the past months, the panel received more than 8,000 complaints, testimonies and documents. Its members have interviewed more than 5,000 witnesses and alleged victims of the unrest, including detainees, police personnel, doctors and journalists.
Bahrain imposed martial law in March and invited into the country 1,500 troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf neighbors who accuse the regional Shiite power, Iran of aiding the unrest.