During interrogations that stretched on for hours, Bahraini authorities reportedly questioned the clerics over the content of their religious sermons. 

Among those interrogated on Friday was Sayyed Mohieldin Al-Mashaal who was freed from prison just last month after completing a one-year sentence. 

He was accused of “inciting hatred against the regime”. 

The charges against Al-Mashaal were based on a sermon that the cleric delivered a few months prior to his arrest. 

Manama’s security forces routinely step-up their harassment of Shiite religious figures during Ashura, which honors the martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein (AS).