By Jason Benham

DUBAI (Reuters) – Bahrain's state oil company fired nearly 300 employees for taking part in a recent pro-democracy strike and a U.S.-based human rights group said a prominent activist appeared to have been tortured in detention.
Human Rights Watch said Bahrain should suspend prosecution of civilians in military courts and set up an impartial body to look into allegations of torture during a clampdown on those involved in protests that erupted in Bahrain in February.

Later in February, the main Shi'ite opposition group Wefaq's 18 deputies resigned from the 40-seat parliament in protest at police violence against the demonstrators.
Justice Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ali al-Khalifa said on Wednesday parliamentary elections would be held on September 24 to fill the vacant seats, the state news agency BNA reported.
Firms in Bahrain, where the Sunni king rules over a Shi'ite majority, have fired hundreds of mostly Shi'ite Muslim workers who went on strike in March to back protesters demanding greater freedom, a constitutional monarchy and an end to discrimination.
Energy Minister Abdul-Hussain bin Ali Mirza was quoted as saying 293 Bahrain Petroleum Co (Bapco) employees had been dismissed, 50 were under investigation and 11 board members from the workers' union had been referred to the general prosecutor.

Mirza was not immediately available for comment.
Hundreds of people have been arrested and dozens put on trial in special courts since the protests were crushed in March. Others have been fired from government jobs. A state of emergency is due to be lifted on June 1.
Human Rights Watch said Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a prominent rights activist who appeared before a special military-style court on May 8, a month after he was arrested, bore visible signs of ill-treatment and perhaps torture.
"It appears that Abdulhadi al-Khawaja's jailers tortured him during the month they held him in incommunicado detention," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director for the New York-based group. Government officials were not immediately available to comment.
Human Rights Watch said Khawaja was among a group of opposition activists charged with attempting to topple the government "in collaboration with a terrorist organization working for a foreign country." Their trial resumes on Thursday.

Bahrain accuses Iran of helping instigate the protests. Neighboring Sunni-led Gulf states sent troops to back Bahrain's forces during the crackdown, boosting regional tension.
The government denies there is torture in Bahrain, a Western ally which hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, and officials say all such accusations will be investigated.
At least 29 people, all but six of them Shi'ites, have been killed since the protests started in February, inspired by Arab revolts against autocratic rule that toppled the rulers of Egypt and Tunisia.
The six non-Shi'ites killed included two foreigners -- an Indian and a Bangladeshi -- and four policemen.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Philippa Fletcher)