Bahrain Mirror: The US Department of State confirmed news circulated in the media about an unannounced meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and members of the opposition and civil society during his visit to Bahrain.

The Deputy Spokesperson of the State Department Mark C. Toner said in the daily press briefing held on Thursday (April 7, 2016) that Kerry in the afternoon "with members of the opposition and civil society," adding that "it was a brief meeting but they did discuss - or provided an opportunity for him to hear their perspectives on the political situation in Bahrain and also hear from them directly about their views on human rights, on expression and dissent in the kingdom."

"And he spoke also in his press avail that - about some of the steps that Bahrain has made - and they have made some steps and we've talked about these before - but that more work needs to be done," he further stated.

"The opposition did boycott the previous election, but they did discuss today the upcoming election 2018 and the prospects for those elections and, frankly, some of the work that needs to be done over the next few months so that these are full, free, fair, and transparent elections. And I think that's where the focus is right now," Toner also noted.

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