US sends home suspected '20th hijacker' from Guantanamo

Mohammad Ahmad Al Qahtani has been sent back to Saudi Arabia for mental illness treatment

A passenger barge docked at US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, on the south-east coast of Cuba. All photos: Willy Lowry / The National

A welcome sign at US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.

A US Naval Station sign at Guantanamo Bay.

Two US Navy sailors stand at attention as they raise the American Flag at US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.

A US Navy cutter shipped docked at Guantanamo Bay.

A view of US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and the surrounding countryside.

Hilly landscape surrounding Guantanamo Bay.

A McDonald's arch at US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.

The exterior of a building at the US Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay

The 'USS Billings', a littoral combat ship, docked at US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.

A Saudi prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre who was suspected of trying to join the 9/11 hijackers has been sent to his home country to be treated for mental illness, the US Department of Defence said on Monday.

Mohammad Ahmad Al Qahtani, 46, was flown to Saudi Arabia to a treatment facility, from the US base in Cuba after a review board including military and intelligence officials concluded he could be safely released after 20 years in custody.

He has had schizophrenia since childhood, medical examinations and records obtained by his lawyers showed.

The US dropped plans to try him after a Bush administration legal official concluded he had been tortured at Guantanamo.

With his release, there are now 38 prisoners left at the detention centre. He is the second released under President Joe Biden, who has said he intends to close the prison.

"The United States appreciates the willingness of Saudi Arabia and other partners to support ongoing US efforts toward a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing of the Guantanamo Bay facility," the Department of Defence said of Al Qahtani's release.

But only half of the men held there have been cleared for release and no decision has been made about what to do with the rest, including those who still face trial by military commission.

The Defence Department notified Congress of its intention to transfer Al Qahtani in February, prompting outrage from some Republicans.

His lawyers obtained a federal court order in 2020 requiring a medical examination of the prisoner by an independent medical panel, which could have ordered his repatriation under Army regulations if the diagnosis by his doctors was confirmed.

The Trump administration contested the order in a legal fight that was dropped under Mr Biden.

“After two decades without trial in US custody, Mohammed will now receive the psychiatric care he has long needed in Saudi Arabia, with the support of his family,” said Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York who represented Al Qahtani with help from students for more than a decade.

“Keeping him at Guantanamo, where he was tortured and then repeatedly attempted suicide, would have been a likely death sentence.”

In August 2001, Al Qahtani was turned away from the US at the Orlando airport by immigration officers who were suspicious of his travel.

The lead September 11 hijacker, Mohammed Atta, was going to pick him up to take part in the plot, previously released documents claimed.

US forces later captured him in Afghanistan and sent him to Guantanamo, where he was subjected to brutal interrogations that the Pentagon legal official in charge of war crimes commissions said amounted to torture.

That treatment included beatings, exposure to extreme temperatures and noise, sleep deprivation and extended solitary confinement.

An FBI official in 2002 observed Al Qahtani speaking to non-existent people, hearing voices and crouching in a corner of his cell while covering himself with a sheet for hours at a time.

The 38 remaining prisoners at Guantanamo include 19 who have been approved for repatriation or resettlement by the review board. Another seven are eligible for review.'

Ten prisoners face trial by military commission, including five charged with involvement in the September 11, 2001, attacks. Their death penalty case has been stalled for years in the pretrial phase.

The remaining two prisoners at the base have been convicted, one of whom, former Maryland resident Majid Khan, is nearing the completion of his sentence under a plea deal.