[9] Al Wefaq, which had previously declared it would only participate in half of the committees of the "National Dialogue" established by the Bahraini government, pulled out of the negotiations entirely.

Khamis al-Rumaihi, a Sunni MP, alleged a "hidden agenda" and accused Al Jazeera, owned by the emir of Qatar, of trying to foment unrest and undo the benefits of Bahrain's national dialogue.

[18] The government announced that 20-year-old poet Ayat al-Qurmezi, who received a year in prison for using her poetry to criticise the crackdown, was one of the people pardoned by the king.

[19] A 14-year-old boy called Ali Jawad al-Sheikh was reportedly struck and killed by a tear gas canister while attending an anti-government demonstration in Sitra after morning prayers.

[20][21] In what was the largest demonstration in months, thousands of people in Sitra marched in the funeral of the 14-year-old boy reportedly killed by a tear-gas attack.

Security forces reportedly raided homes and fired shots in majority Shia neighbourhoods, while demonstrators erected barricades and pelted riot police with rocks.

The protests were timed to coincide with a boycott of the 2011 Bahraini parliamentary by-electionss to replace the 18 Al Wefaq members of parliament who resigned in February.

[33] Bahrain held by-elections on 25 September to fill the 18 parliamentary seats left vacant when deputies from the main opposition Al Wefaq party resigned in March 2011.

[37] Mohammed and Ali Mirza of Bahrain's national handball team were jailed for 15 years after being charged with taking part in anti-government protests.

Their father said his sons were found guilty of being part of a group of anti-government demonstrators that burned down a farm owned by a member of the ruling family.

The Mirza brothers, who played at the handball world championship in January, were among 150 Shiite athletes, coaches and referees detained as part of a crackdown on protesters.

[42] Liam Fox, the UK's Secretary of State for Defence at the time, warned in his speech at the Tory Party conference that Bahrain was in danger of being the “Berlin of the Middle East”.

He warned that the country represented a potential flashpoint for regional conflict and suggested that a coordinated, measured process of reform would be the most beneficial way of resolving the current troubles.

[43] On 5 October the Bahraini Attorney General ordered the 20 doctors sentenced to prison on 29 September for “inciting hatred for the regime” and hoarding weapons in the Salmaniya Medical Complex to have their cases re-tried in civilian courts.

[44] The decision was apparently a tactical retreat in face of the international community's condemnation of the sentences, which had drawn criticism from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as well as organizations such as Physicians for Human Rights.

[50] More injuries were expected, though the chaotic scene around a makeshift clinic near the clashes made it impossible to verify the number, Al Jazeera's reporter in Bahrain said.

[52] Al Jazeera correspondent witnessed three men bearing bleeding wounds thought to have been caused by rubber bullets, while another man had suffered a severe facial injury after being hit by a sound grenade.

[50] Ministry of Interior said "A group of vandals blocked Budaiya road after funeral of Ahmed Jaber, which led to interference of security forces to bring situation to normal".

[55] The Bahrain High Criminal Court fined Mansoor Al-Jamri and three other editors of the independent newspaper Al Wasat, who were accused of publishing fabricated stories between 25 and 29 March.

[citation needed] The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry asked the king on 20 October to allow a month-long delay in the publication of its report.

[62] The report has been criticized for not disclosing the names of individual perpetrators of abuses and extending accountability only to those who actively carried out human rights violations.

[63] Al Jazeera English published a lengthy feature by Matthew Cassel, reporting from the restive Shi'a-majority village of Sanabis.

According to the report, the uprising in Sanabis and many other villages near the capital of Manama was still going strong as of early December 2011, with the largest public protests since the lifting of the emergency law taking place after the Peninsula Shield Force withdrew the previous weekend.

Cassel characterised the protesters as overwhelmingly peaceful, following the advice of anti-violence activists, but increasingly despairing of the prospects of effecting governmental changes without taking up arms.

[64] Cassel's report included photographs of Bahraini activists marching in the streets, carrying homemade riot shields, waving the national flag, fleeing from security forces, and having injuries treated in home clinics.

[68] During protests on the island of Sitra on New Year's Eve against the government, a 15-year-old boy named Sayed Hashim Saeed died after police allegedly fired two tear gas canisters at his chest and neck from close range.

A medical report gave the cause of death as hematomas and bleeding as a result of a neck injury, and noted burns on the bottom-left of his chest and his left forearm.