Bahrain's King Hamad issued several decrees on Monday, including one naming a panel to implement the recommendations of a probe into a month of unrest earlier this year, state news agency BNA said. It said the king “issued a Royal Order appointing the National Commission charged with the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) Report.” The agency said on Sunday the king had decided to form a panel to implement the recommendations of the probe. In another decree, the king announced the “reforming of the Supreme Defense Council and defining its prerogatives.” He also “appointed Sheikh Khalifa Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa as Supreme Defense Council secretary general and adviser to... the king for national security affairs with the rank of minister,” another statement said. BNA said the decrees were announced as the kingdom began implementing the inquiry commission's recommendations. Meanwhile, Bahrain's Interior Minister Rashed Bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa said that a series of reform procedures would be adopted by the ministry. These would “enhance police work and create a balance between the role of the police in protecting security and stability and safeguarding lives and property, and the ministry's overriding duty to respect human rights and basic freedoms.” A ministry statement said it was in the final stages of signing contracts with US and British experts “to assist in developing police work during the next phase.” King Hamad, who commissioned the independent commission's report, had vowed reforms following the commission's findings. __
