DUBAI, Jan 15, (Agencies): Bahrain’s king announced constitutional amendments on Sunday giving parliament more powers of scrutiny over government, but the opposition said they fell far short of demands for democracy that have driven a year of unrest in the Gulf Arab state.

The speech did not mention clashes between riot police and mainly Shi’ite opposition activists that have taken place on an almost daily basis since martial law was lifted in May after the Sunni-dominated government crushed a pro-democracy uprising.

The island nation, home to the US Fifth Fleet, is seen by the United States and Saudi Arabia as a key ally against non-Arab Shi’ite power Iran just across Gulf waters.
The amendments, which increase powers to question and remove ministers and withdraw confidence in the cabinet, emerged from a national dialogue King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa organised last year after the uprising.

The main opposition party Wefaq withdrew from the dialogue, saying it did not go far enough to offer real reform.

The king, in a televised speech said: “Our people have proven their desire for continuing with reforms... We complete the march today with those who have an honest patriotic desire for more progress and reform.

“I must mention here that democracy is not just constitutional and legislative rules, it is a culture and practice and adhering by the law and respecting international human rights principles,” he said.
“I beseech all sectors of society to work together so that all their sons adhere to the law...”
The cabinet is headed by the same prime minister from the royal family who was appointed when Bahrain emerged from colonial tutelage in 1971. The elected parliament’s powers to legislate are neutralised by an appointed chamber.

Activists were scathing about the speech, which comes after a number of deaths in recent weeks resulting from the tense security situation. They said King Hamad — widely popular when he came to power promising democratic changes in 1999 — seemed out of touch with reality.
A 24-year-old Shi’ite man was found dead after he went missing last Wednesday. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said his body showed signs of torture, but the Interior Ministry said he suffered from psychological problems and had drowned.

A Shi’ite woman, Badriya Ali, 59, died after setting herself alight on Friday. Her family say she was depressed after her son was forcibly seized from her home and held for five months last year. Police said she was being treated in a psychiatric hospital after several suicide attempts.
A woman from the village of Barbar died from tear gas inhalation on Saturday night, activists said, taking their figure for the total number of deaths since the protests took off last year to around 60.
“This reflects a denial of the demands for better representation for Bahrainis and a fair judiciary,” said Wefaq official Matar Matar, noting the reforms could have been effected via legislation rather than constitutional changes.
“It ignores previous promises from the crown prince on a government that represents the people.”
Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a Saudi police patrol in the kingdom’s restive oil-rich east, wounding one officer, a spokesman said on Sunday.
The shooting took place late on Saturday in the province of Qatif, just two days after a man was killed during clashes with Saudi security forces in a nearby town.
“During a routine patrol... the (police) were fired upon by unknown assailants... wounding one of the police officers,” the regional police spokesman said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
He said the wounded officer was transferred to a hospital but gave no further details on his condition.
Witnesses said that police fired on protesters Saturday night in the provincial town of Awamiya.
On Friday, Saudi security forces had clashed with Shiite protesters in Awamiya after a police patrol was attacked with a petrol bomb, leaving the car in flames.
The interior ministry said unidentified gunmen opened fire on police officers trying to control the flames, forcing a response from the security forces.
One person was killed in the exchange of fire.
Witnesses said meanwhile that security forces opened fire with live rounds after Shiite protesters hurled stones at one of their vehicles.
Activists said Issam Mohammed, 22, was killed by multiple bullet wounds, and three other people were wounded.
Friday’s clashes came after demonstrations in four Qatif region villages calling for the “release of political detainees, reform and an end to sectarian discrimination,” one activist told AFP on condition of anonymity.
In a statement on his Twitter account Sunday, a prominent Shiite cleric in Awamiya, Sheikh Faisal al-Awami, said it was time the government “bring an end to religious discrimination” in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.
The clashes came as Saudi’s minority Shiites, the majority of whom live in the country’s eastern province, marked the 40 days after the Ashura anniversary commemorating the slaying of Imam Hussein, one of Shiite Islam’s most revered figures, by the armies of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD.
Protests erupted in Eastern Province in March when members of the kingdom’s Shiite minority took to the streets to condemn Saudi military intervention against Shiite-led pro-democracy demonstrations in neighbouring Bahrain.
Four Shiites were shot dead in November. The interior ministry said security forces had come under fire from gunmen operating on “foreign orders,” in a veiled accusation against Shiite Iran.
Most of Saudi Arabia’s estimated two million Shiites live in Eastern Province. They complain of marginalisation in the Sunni-dominated kingdom.