Mr Hashim said the arrest prompted a major crackdown by authorities from August 1, which led to the arrests of nine other men. However, seven have since been released from custody and he expects another two to be freed within 25 days.
Mr Hashim could not confirm whether the man who sparked the arrests would be among them. "On August 1 the authorities arrested a 22-year-old Bahraini who was arriving from abroad at Bahrain International Airport," he told the GDN.
"He was accused of returning from Afghanistan and was arrested at the airport.
"He was also accused of belonging to a terrorist organisation abroad.
"After that a campaign of arrest was launched by the Bahrain security forces and they arrested 10 Bahraini youths (in total) from different parts of the country."
All the men, aged 22 to 40, were accused of belonging to terrorists groups abroad, possessing publications for the promotion and publicity of acts of terror and funding terrorist acts.
