He has been accused of being “20th hijacker” in September 11th terrorist plot.
In June 2021, a review board found that al-Qahtani was not a threat to national security and recommended that he be repatriated to Saudi Arabia. In February, Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense, notified Saudi Arabia of the decision.
The Defense Department stated in a statement that the United States appreciated Saudi Arabia’s willingness to support U.S. efforts towards a deliberate, thorough process focused on responsible reducing detainee populations and closing Guantanamo Bay.
Shayana Kadidal is the senior managing attorney for the Guantanamo Project at the Center for Constitution Rights. She said that al-Qahtani suffers from schizophrenia since childhood. In 2002, an FBI official witnessed al-Qahtani crouching in the corner of his cell, listening to voices, and covering himself with a sheet for hours. Kadidal stated that al-Qahtani had repeatedly attempted to kill himself.
The Center for Constitutional Rights stated in a February statement that an independent psychiatrist examined al-Qahtani at Guantanamo. He confirmed that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2016. All military doctors agreed with this conclusion.
Susan Crawford, the Bush administration’s senior official responsible for deciding whether Guantanamo Bay detainees should be brought to trial, declined al-Qahtani’s case because he had been tortured in Guantanamo Bay.
According to The Washington Post, Crawford stated that “His treatment was consistent with the legal definitions of torture.” “And that’s the reason I didn’t refer the case.”
In previously classified court documents from 2016, government accuses al-Qahtani “almost certainly selected” by senior al Qaeda members as the 20th hijacker in the 9/11 attacks. According to the documents, al-Qahtani probably knew he was on a suicide mission but was not aware of the details of the attack. According to the documents, immigration officers denied him entry to the U.S. because they “found the circumstances of his journey and his conduct suspicious.”
According to declassified documents, Mohammed Atta was the hijacker and was waiting “almost certainly” to pick up al Qahtani at Orlando Airport in 2001. He was denied entry to the airport and was deported to the United Arab Emirates.
According to the government, al-Qahtani was said to have returned to Pakistan and Afghanistan in august 2001 to inform Osama bin Laden and Atta separately that he had been denied entry to America. According to documents, he then went to Kabul to fight the U.S. According to the government, al-Qahtani briefly visited Tora Bora before rejoining bin Laden and his guards before being captured.
According to the documents, he tried repeatedly to “disassociate” himself from al Qaeda. However, the government stated that their “insight into” his motivation was limited by his “repeated denies of terrorism involvement.” The government stated that his family had no known connections to terrorists.
According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, al-Qahtani was “brutally tortured at Washington’s direction by officials who wanted to ‘break’ him. His connection to reality had been strained for many years.”
The Defense Department announced Monday that 38 of the detainees still remain at Guantanamo bay after al-Qahtani was released. The Defense Department stated that 19 of those 38 are eligible to transfer, 7 are eligible to review, 10 are involved with the military commissions process and 2 were convicted in military trials.
President Joe Biden has pledged to close Guantanamo prison before he leaves office. In February 2021, the administration declared that it would launch an interagency review.
