Deportation to Saudi Arabia
20 years in Guantanamo: USA release prisoner
02/05/2022 11:46 am
Mohammed al-Kahtani has been in the Guantanamo prison camp for almost two decades, where he is tortured and humiliated. He is said to have been involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The proceedings will be discontinued in 2008. Now he should be released – apparently mentally badly affected.
The US authorities have recommended the release of a mentally ill inmate from the notorious Guantanamo detention center. A panel of experts said the detention of Mohammed al-Kahtani was “no longer necessary to avert an ongoing significant threat to the security of the United States.”
Al-Kathani was reportedly tortured by prison officials in Guantanamo. The Periodic Review Board, a body with representatives from several national security agencies, has now recommended that he be taken to his home country of Saudi Arabia.
There he could receive comprehensive psychological care in a rehabilitation center for extremists. The man’s health was “significantly impaired” and he needed “family support”. The experts also recommended security measures, including surveillance and travel restrictions.
Al-Kahtani is accused of being one of the hijackers in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He was held in solitary confinement, sexually humiliated and subjected to sleep deprivation in the prison camp in Cuba where he was imprisoned for nearly two decades. The US government dropped the case against him for the abuse in 2008.
Al-Kahtani was one of the first prisoners taken to Guantanamo in January 2002. The torture was well documented. After the case became known, several international human rights organizations called for the prison camp to be closed.
Former President Barack Obama tried in vain to close the camp. Today’s President Joe Biden also wants to close the camp. He is therefore trying to push the releases of inmates no longer classified as dangerous, which were discontinued under his predecessor Donald Trump.