announced US Department of DefenseOn Monday, the transfer of a Saudi detainee who had spent two decades in Guantanamo on suspicion of seeking to participate in the September 11, 2001 attacks, to his country.
“On February 4, 2022, Secretary of Defense (Lloyd) Austin notified Congress of his desire to return Mohammed al-Qahtani to Saudi Arabia. In cooperation with our Saudi partners, we have fulfilled the requirements for a safe transfer,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
The statement added, “The United States appreciates the willingness of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other partners to support continued American efforts to reduce the number of prisoners, through a careful and deliberate process, and ultimately close the Guantanamo prison.”
Al-Qahtani’s transfer came following the Guantanamo Review Committee found that his detention was “no longer necessary” to protect US security from a “serious threat”.
Last month, the Periodic Review Board, a government body established under the Obama administration to determine whether detainees at the facility were guilty, recommended that Qahtani be returned to a psychiatric facility in Saudi Arabia.
Authorities accused al-Qahtani of being an al-Qaeda operative, and of having planned to be the “20th hijacker” in the 9/11 attack, but he failed to board United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania.
The review panel concluded that he was “eligible for transfer” and recommended that he participate in a “rehabilitation program” at a center hosting former jihadists in Saudi Arabia.
The committee said it had taken into account the “detainee’s poor mental state”, “the family support he might receive” and “the quality” of the care he would receive in his country.
Al-Qahtani was one of the first prisoners transferred to Guantanamo in January 2002. Susan Crawford, the military judge who presided over the Guantanamo Special Tribunals in 2009, admitted that “Al-Qahtani was tortured.” “For this reason,” Crawford said, this file has not been referred to the special courts for detainees in the military prison.
Muhammad Al-Qahtani had arrived at Orlando Airport in Florida on August 4, 2001, but his behavior caught the attention of the immigration officer, who thought that he was intending to stay in the United States illegally, so he was not allowed to enter the United States and he was deported to Dubai.
An investigation into the September 11 attacks, which killed 3,000 people, revealed his involvement and was arrested in Afghanistan in December 2001.
And the United States agreed last month to release five detainees.
Ten detainees, including the alleged mastermind of these attacks, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed Dadour, are awaiting a ruling by a military commission. This detention center was established 20 years ago as part of the “war on terror”. In January, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby reiterated that the current US administration “remains committed to closing the Guantanamo Bay prison.”