DUBAI/MANAMA: Bahrain’s main telecommunications firm Thursday said it would re-employ workers sacked after strikes connected to pro-democracy protests, the second company to do so in as many days. More than 2,000 Shiite workers were sacked from state-controlled companies last year for taking part in strikes and protests against perceived discrimination and the dominance of the ruling Sunni Muslim Al-Khalifa family.

Bahrain Telecommunications Co. (Batelco) will take back axed workers “who agree to abide by Bahrain’s labor law and Batelco internal policies,” chairman Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah al-Khalifa said in a statement.
Despite moves to ease tensions, unrest continues in the Gulf island state. Shiites and police clash almost daily outside the capital, Manama.

A Labor Ministry committee had put pressure on the company after a ministry review found that 102 of the 172 Batelco staff who lost their jobs had been illegally dismissed.

Bahrain, base for the U.S. Fifth Fleet, has also been under international pressure to reinstate Shiite workers.
A commission of international lawyers set up by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa to investigate the unrest said in November that many Bahrainis had been unfairly dismissed.
The government promised to implement its recommendations.
Bahrain’s Formula One circuit, due to host a race in April after the 2011 edition was canceled, also reinstated staff Wednesday.

In separate developments Thursday, Bahrain said it will rebuild 12 Shiite mosques demolished by authorities during the unrest, in further moves to address allegations of abuses raised in the inquiry report.
As part of the widespread crackdowns, Bahraini authorities razed Shiite mosques they claimed were built illegally or had other violations.