Manama: A commitment to rebuild religious structures demolished during the dramatic events that unfolded in Bahrain in 2011 has been honoured, religious officials said.
The Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments said that “a further 13 places of worship cited in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report have been rebuilt and handed over to the Jaffari Endowments Directorate.”
The BICI, an international fact-finding commission of legal experts, was set up by King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa in June 2011 to look into the events that hit the kingdom in February and March and their consequences.
In its report released in November 2011, the BICI recommended a follow up on King Hamad’s statement in May that new places of worship would be built. The panel also urged the government to “consider rebuilding, at its expense, some of the demolished religious structures in accordance with administrative regulations.”
On Friday and following the handover of the last mosques, the ministry said that “the reconstruction of places of worship is in line with King Hamad’s directives for the Kingdom to continue promoting the principles of coexistence and religious freedom.”
Touring the reconstructed sites with members of the Board of Directors of the Jaffari Endowments, a religious organisation representing Bahrainis who adhere to the Jaffari school of thought, Ministry Undersecretary Fareed Bin Yaqoob Al Meftah highlighted that a key government priority was to ensure that all places of worship were available to all sections of society, and noted that the mosque reconstruction programme had gone beyond the recommendations of the BICI report, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.
Jaffari Endowments Director Shaikh Mohsen Al Asfoor said the places of worship had been handed over to community leaders.
