Mentally ill Guantanamo detainee repatriated to Saudi Arabia
Source: Agence France-Presse
By AFP
Published March 7, 2022
A mentally ill inmate from Guantanamo Bay has been repatriated to Saudi Arabia, the US Department of Defense announced Monday.
Suspected of being Al Qaedas intended 20th hijacker for the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States, Mohammed al-Qahtani was tortured by interrogators at the US military base in Cuba where he has been detained for nearly two decades.
The government dropped its case against him in 2008 due to the abuse he experienced at the prison. In February, US authorities recommended he be released and repatriated.
On Feb. 4, 2022, Secretary of Defense Austin notified Congress of his intent to repatriate al-Qahtani to Saudi Arabia. In consultation with our Saudi partners, we completed the requirements for responsible transfers, the Defense Department said in a statement.
Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/mentally-ill-guantanamo-detainee-repatriated-to-saudi-arabia/article
Wikipedia:
Mohammed al-Qahtani
Mohammed Mani Ahmad al-Qahtani (Arabic: محمد ماني احمد القحطاني (sometimes transliterated as al-Kahtani) (born November 19, 1975) is a Saudi citizen who has been detained as an al-Qaeda agent for 19 years (since June 2002) in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba. Qahtani allegedly tried to enter the United States to take part in the September 11 attacks as the 20th hijacker and was due to be onboard United Airlines Flight 93 along with the four other hijackers. He was refused entry due to suspicions that he was trying to illegally immigrate. He was later captured in Afghanistan in the battle of Tora Bora in December 2001.
After military commissions were authorized by Congress, in February 2008, Qahtani was charged on numerous counts. In May, the charges were dropped without prejudice. New charges were filed against him in November 2008 and dropped in January 2009, as evidence had been obtained through torture and was inadmissible in court. This was the first time an official of the Bush administration had admitted any torture of detainees at Guantanamo.
In a Washington Post interview in January 2009, Susan Crawford of the Department of Defense said "we tortured Qahtani", saying that the U.S. government had so abused Qahtani through isolation, sleep deprivation, forced nudity and exposure to cold that he was in a "life-threatening condition."[3][4][5]
On March 6, 2022, Qahtani was airlifted from Guantanamo Bay by the U.S. military and flown back to Saudi Arabia to a mental health treatment facility after 20 years in American custody.[6] His release was announced by the U.S. Department of Defense the next day.[7]
More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_al-Qahtani
Solly Mack
(90,800 posts)SunSeeker
(51,796 posts)oldsoftie
(12,665 posts)Fuck that guy. he tried to be one of the attackers.
IronLionZion
(45,628 posts)So I bet officials get super confused when dealing with light skinned Arabs and Middle Eastern Muslims.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)maxsolomon
(33,449 posts)Guantanamo must be emptied, closed and returned to Cuba.