King: Bahrain moving in right direction

MANAMA, Bahrain, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Political reform and national unity are gaining momentum nearly a year after the Shiite uprising in Bahrain, the country's Sunni monarch declared.

Bahrain was one of the first countries caught up in the so-called Arab Spring, which began in December 2010 with a protest suicide in Tunisia.

The Sunni-led kingdom was criticized for its decision to call in support from members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa told German news magazine Der Spiegel that his country was headed in the right direction one year after the protests began, however.

"I am confident that we can achieve greater unity through the many reforms and initiatives that we have put in place since last year," he said.

Iranian media claims press coverage of the ongoing unrest in Bahrain is skewed, though the king said it was Iran that was fomenting dissent in his country.

The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in a 513-page report published last year concluded that state security forces used unnecessary lethal force during a crackdown on Shiite demonstrators in early 2011. Nearly 50 people, including police officers, were killed during the uprising.

The German news magazine said as many as 700 demonstrators are still behind bars, though Hamad said they weren't political prisoners.

"There are no 'political prisoners' as such in Bahrain," he said. "People are not arrested because they express their views, we only have criminals."