Brisbane Roar defender Sayed Mohammad Adnan. Adnan was eventually released, but charges were not dropped and he fears possible legal action if he returns. Mohammed Hubail has already been sentenced to two years' jail after a clandestine military trial and Alaa, one of the country's football superstars and Bahrain's all-time leading scorer, will go on trial this month. In a confronting story on the plight of the Bahrain athletes by ESPN, Alaa Hubail alleged that he was beaten soon after he was imprisoned. Days before, he was ridiculed on Bahrain television for turning his back on his country and fans by speaking at a gathering in the capital, Manama. “They put me in the room for beatings. One of the people who hit me said: 'I'm going to break your legs.' They knew who we were. There was a special room for the torture,”Alaa told ESPN. “We were living in a nightmare of fear and horror. We were forced to endure it. I had to endure it. If I didn't something worse would have happened to me.

Rioters flee during the Arab Spring protests in Bahrain. Credit:Adam Jan "I didn't do anything wrong to deserve this treatment and humiliation." Another one of the imprisoned athletes, table tennis player Anwar al-Makki, and sports journalist Faisal Hayyat told ESPN of being tortured with an electric cable. “They would bring an electric cable, blindfold the person and put them on the floor,” Makki said. Hayyat said: “I was blindfolded. I couldn't see what was happening. He put a cable in my hand and said: 'Now I'll turn the electricity on'.”

It leaves Adnan in a precarious position in Brisbane. While he was released and the King has issued some pardons, there is a real risk he could still face trial should he return to his native country. Marion Le, a prominent refugee activist, said it was possible Adnan could seek permanent refuge for himself and his immediate family in Australia if concerns that he may be in danger if he returned to Bahrain are legitimate. "Anyone that comes here and has a well-founded fear of persecution should they return, or even if they felt that they were prevented of speaking out in this country about something, then they would have normally a reason to seek asylum," she said. Melbourne lawyer Brett Slater, a specialist in migration law, said Adnan would have a number of options if he wanted permanent residency in this country, including the possibility of a visa for distinguished athletes or a claim for asylum due to his political beliefs. "If the reality is he's been tortured and one would think, having experienced that, there's a reasonable risk that something bad is going to happen to him in the future, then he would have, I would think, reasonable prospects of being successful," Slater said.

Adnan has a wife and young son, who were with him when he arrived in Australia Various Bahrain government officials were shown on the ESPN footage either dismissing or playing down the claims of torture and brutality in the wake of the crackdown, which have resulted in the deaths of at least 32 people and hundreds of arrests since February. The vice-chairman of the Bahrain Olympic Committee, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, told ESPN the manner in which the protests were crushed were justified. "You have to defend yourself, you have to protect the law and you have to take decisions on the ground,” he said. When asked about the treatment of the imprisoned athletes, he first denied allegations of torture before appearing to soften his stance: "We heard many stories. How can we say for fact this happened?"

A spokesman for the Brisbane Roar said Adnan was concentrating on Saturday's game against the Newcastle Jets and was maintaining his silence about the dramatic events that preceded his journey with the A-League champions. But in early October he was quoted on website alakhbar as saying he was aware of the torture of some of his teammates and Bahrain officials had tried to lure him home. "My colleagues were tortured to say that I organized the march just like what happened with Ali Saeed," Adnan told alakhbar, referring to the national team’s goalkeeper who was forced into a public confession. "A high-level officer sent me a message by way of the released detainees to return to Bahrain. He said that I could return and they would not touch me. "(But) If they have nothing to do with me, then why were my colleagues tortured and why were the authorities asking them about me?"

Earlier this month, brisbanetimes.com.au reported that members of the Bahrain coaching staff were interested in recalling Adnan to duty, especially with the side's defence in tatters following a 6-0 drubbing from Iran in their first World Cup qualifier. But despite telling The Guardian newspaper at the start of September that he was aware of the whereabouts and situation regarding Adnan and the Hubail brothers, Bahrain's English manager Peter Taylor told ESPN he had no idea who they were. Loading It's a bizarre turnaround, especially given Alaa Hubail is perhaps the country's highest-profile player who can take much of the credit for spirited runs towards the past two World Cups, which they just failed to make. “At the moment, I don't know who you are talking about,” Taylor said.