Mohammed al-Qahtani
Mohammed al-Qahtani | |
---|---|
Kharj, Saudi Arabia | |
Detained at | Guantanamo Bay |
ISN | 63 |
Charge(s) | Charged February 2008; charges dropped in May 2008; new charges in November 2008; charges dropped January 2009; habeas case reinstated, 2008. |
Status | Repatriated |
Mohammed Mani Ahmad al-Qahtani (
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
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]
Early life
Mohammed al-Qahtani was born on 19 November 1975 in
Denied entry by US immigration
On August 3, 2001, Qahtani at the age of 26 flew into
Transfer to Guantanamo
Captured in the
After ten months, U.S. Border and Immigration Authorities took a fingerprint sample and discovered that he was the same person who had tried to enter the United States just before the
At that time, the military invited FBI interrogators to interview Qahtani. By the fall of 2002, they were frustrated by his resistance. DOD interrogators talked of using different techniques, based on a class they attended.[8] [page needed]
Shortly after September 26, 2002, top administration political appointees:
The political appointees went on to
Qahtani had initially been
- He had been sent to the US by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the lead architect of the 9/11 attack;
- He had met Osama bin Laden on several occasions;
- He had terrorist training at two al-Qaeda camps;
- He had been in contact with many senior al-Qaeda leaders.[10]
Al-Qahtani is also said to have informed interrogators that he had received operational training in covert communications from
Documented abuses while in Guantanamo
At Guantánamo, Mohammed al-Qahtani was subjected to a regime of 17 aggressive interrogation techniques, known as the "First Special Interrogation Plan", authorized in writing by
The special interrogation plan and techniques were not revealed until 2008 in testimony to the
Under these coercive techniques, Qahtani gave additional information, including naming 30 other prisoners as working directly for bin Laden. The military used this information as justification to hold the men as
It was not until February 2008 that Qahtani was first charged before a
Gitanjali Gutierrez, a defense lawyer for al-Qahtani who works for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, has said she thought Qahtani's torture constituted a war crime.[15][16]
Interrogation log
On March 3, 2006, Time magazine published the secret log of 49 days of the 20-hour-per-day interrogation of Qahtani at Guantanamo Bay detention camp from late November 2002 to early January 2003.[17] This had been leaked to the press.[18] The log described Qahtani being forcibly administered intravenous fluids, drugs, and enemas, in order to keep his body functioning well enough for the interrogations to continue.[18] The log, titled SECRET ORCON INTERROGATION LOG DETAINEE 063, offers a daily, detailed account of the enhanced interrogation techniques used from November 23, 2002, to January 11, 2003.
These included the following:
- Forced to submit to an enema
- Beatings
- Placed in stress positions for long periods of time in order to induce severe pain
- Threats made against his family, including female members
- Forced nudity, including in the presence of female personnel
- Placed in tight restraints for many months on end, day and night
- Lowering the temperature in the room, then throwing water on the detainee's face
- Restraint on a swivel chair for long periods
- Various humiliations, such as training the detainee to act as a dog, dance lessons, and forcing him to watch puppet shows depicting sexual acts between him and Osama bin Laden at his mock birthday party
- Deprivation of sleepfor long periods
- Loud music and white noise played to prevent the detainee from sleeping
- Forcing the detainee to pray to bin Laden
- Various interrogation techniques described as "pride-and-ego down", "circumstantial evidence", "fear-up", or "Al Qaeda falling apart"
- Threats of extraordinary rendition to countries that torture
- Strip searches
- Body searches
- Prohibiting detainee from praying for prolonged times and during Ramadan
- Threatening to desecrate the Koranin front of him
- Forced to pick up trash with his hands cuffed, while being called "a pig"
- Exposure to low temperatures for prolonged times
- Forcible administration of IVs by medical staff during interrogation, which were described by Qahtani as "repetitive stabs" each day
- Repeatedly screened a video of September 11 attacks
- Pictures of 9/11 victims taped to his body
- Forced to stand for U.S. national anthem and listen to interrogators and guards sing "God Bless America"
The interrogation log does not record Qahtani admitting to being a member of al-Qaeda. The entry for January 1, 2003, relates that Qahtani blames Osama bin Laden for deceiving the 19 9/11 hijackers ("his friends"):
2A0780 asked how one man, Bin Laden, convince [sic] 19 young men to kill themselves, (detainee was starting to fade he was going in and out of sleep.) The question was repeated, detainee stated that they were tricked, that he distorted the picture if [sic] front of them, 2A0780 asked detainee if this made him mad, detainee stated yes, (detainee did not realize that 2A780 [sic] had not started putting detainee into the picture) 2A0780 asked detainee if he was mad that his friends had been tricked, detainee said yes. 2A0780 asked detainee if his friends knew about the plan, detainee said no, 2A0780 asked if detainee knew about the plan, detainee stated that he didn't know. 2A0780 asked detainee if it made him mad that he killed his friends, detainee stated yes. 2A0780 asked detainee if he was glad that he didn't die on the plane, detainee stated yes. 2A0780 asked detainee if his parents were happy that he didn't die detainee stated yes. 2A0780 stated "he killed your friends" detainee stated yes.[17]
When asked about his greatest sins in his life, Qahtani responded that he had not taken care of his parents properly, had not finished college, and had not been able to repay $20,000 he had borrowed from his aunt.[17]
Recanting
On March 3, 2006, Qahtani's lawyer Gitanjali Gutierrez said that her client had recanted the accusations he had made against fellow detainees during earlier periods of interrogation under torture.[19] He had told his lawyer that he was forced to falsely confess and name names, in order to get his "enhanced interrogation" to end.[19] He had accused 30 other detainees of being former bodyguards of Osama bin Laden.
Given the circumstances of how Qahtani's confessions were obtained, lawyers for the other detainees argued that his testimony should not be used by the military as justification to detain their clients. They used this argument in their petitions for habeas corpus challenges for their clients. The government argued that, under the Detainee Treatment Act (2005), detainees could not use the federal courts for habeas corpus except on appeal.[19]
In its decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006), the Supreme Court ruled that the Detainee Treatment Act and the military commissions as established by the Department of Defense were unconstitutional for depriving detainees of habeas corpus and rights of due process, and that the military commissions had not been authorized by Congress.
Military Commissions Act of 2006
In the fall of 2006, Congress quickly passed and the President signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006. It responded to the Court's concerns but mandated the restriction of detainees to the military commission system.
On February 9, 2008, the
Qahtani and the other five were charged on February 11, 2008, with war crimes and murder, and faced the
In their February 2008 press release, CCR said that "the military commissions at Guantanamo allow secret evidence, hearsay evidence, and evidence obtained through torture. They are unlawful, unconstitutional, and a perversion of justice."[21]
Suicide attempt
According to his lawyer, in early April 2008, al-Qahtani tried to
Charges dropped
On May 11, 2008, the government charges against al-Qahtani were dropped.
New charges announced
On November 18, 2008, Chief Prosecutor Lawrence Morris announced that he was filing new charges against Qahtani.[25] When announcing the new charges, Morris stated that the new charges were based on "independent and reliable evidence". He stated: "His conduct is significant enough that he falls into the category of people who ought to be held accountable by being brought to trial."
Crawford orders charges dropped
Qahtani's habeas case reinstated
Mohammed al-Qahtani's habeas corpus case was reinstated in July 2008 after the Supreme Court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush, stating that Guantanamo detainees have a constitutional right to habeas corpus and the right to petition federal courts.[27]
Joint Review Task Force
When
Qahtani's 2014 federal appeals court order
On 2 September 2014, a judicial panel for the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York stated that pictures and videos of Qahtani, taken while in detention, should remain classified. The Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented Mohammed al-Qahtani for this federal lawsuit, had sought to disclose these audiovisual materials under the Freedom of Information Act. The judges decided that the release of these pictures and videos "could logically and plausibly harm national security because these images are uniquely susceptible to use by anti-American extremists as propaganda to incite violence against United States interests domestically and abroad".[34] On March 9, 2015, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in his case.[35]
Representation in popular culture
In a review of the drama film Zero Dark Thirty (2012) about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, Peter Bergen, a national security analyst, compared the character of Ammar and the issue of torture to the treatment of Qahtani in detention. In a controversial passage, Ammar is interrogated under torture in the film and gives up the name of a bin Laden courier. Bergen notes that although Qahtani gave a name under alleged torture, it took another eight years, with US analysts using every form of intelligence-gathering from high technology to 'people on the ground,' for the government to locate and kill Osama bin Laden.[12] Other sources later suggested the character of Ammar was based on Ammar al-Baluchi.[36]
In the television documentary series The Path to 9/11, al-Qahtani is portrayed by
See also
References
- ^ "Mohammed Al Qahtani" (PDF). Department of Defense. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- ^ "Guantanamo Detainee Profile" (PDF). Department of Defense. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- ^ Woodward, Bob (January 14, 2009). "Detainee Tortured, Says U.S. Official". The Washington Post.
- ^ a b Leopold, Jason (October 6, 2009). "Court Documents Reveal Existence of New Torture Tapes". TruthOut. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
- ^ Worthington, Andy (January 20, 2009). "Bush Era Ends With Guantánamo Trial Chief's Torture Confession". Retrieved July 5, 2015.
- ^ Rosenberg, Carol (March 7, 2022). "'20th Hijacker' Is Returned to Saudi Arabia for Mental Health Care". The New York Times. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
- ^ Fox, Ben (March 7, 2022). "US sends home suspected '20th hijacker' from Guantanamo". Associated Press. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-0307456298.
- ^ Miles, Donna (November 12, 2004). "Biometrics help to identify potential foes" (PDF). The Morning Calm. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 27, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2009.
- ^ New York Times.
- Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad, 2012. pp. 98–99.
- ^ a b Bergen, Peter (December 11, 2012). "'Zero Dark Thirty': Did torture really net bin Laden?". CNN.
- ^ "Interrogation Log Detainee 063" (PDF). Center for Constitutional Rights. November 23, 2002. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
- ^ a b Woodward, Bob (January 14, 2009). "Detainee Tortured, Says U.S. Official". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 14, 2009.
- ^ MacAskill, Ewen; Dodd, Vikram (January 15, 2009). "Bush administration: 'We tortured Qahtani'". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "It is called torture, Mr. President". CBC News. January 16, 2009.
- ^ US Department of Defense.
- ^ S2CID 4002335.
- ^ a b c "Exclusive: "20th Hijacker" Claims That Torture Made Him Lie". Time. March 3, 2006. Archived from the original on June 17, 2006.
- ^ a b
"A Guantanamo Trial". Orlandobut was denied entry.
- ^ a b "CCR challenges validity of military commissions and use of torture evidence in new death penalty cases". Center for Constitutional Rights. February 11, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
- ^ "Alleged 9/11 "20th hijacker" tried suicide: lawyer". Reuters. May 20, 2008.
- ^ "Key 9/11 suspect charges dropped". BBC News. May 13, 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
- ^ "Charges against 9/11 man dropped". The Australian. May 14, 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
- New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
- American Forces Press Service. Archived from the originalon September 30, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2009.
- ^ "Qahtani v. Bush, Qahtani v. Gates". Center for Constitutional Rights. November 4, 2009. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
- ^ Peter Finn (January 22, 2010). "Justice task force recommends about 50 Guantanamo detainees be held indefinitely". Washington Post. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
- ^ Finn, Peter (May 29, 2010). "Most Guantanamo detainees low-level fighters, task force report says". Washington Post. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
- ^ Worthington, Andy (June 11, 2010). "Does Obama Really Know or Care About Who Is at Guantánamo?". Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
- ^
"71 Guantanamo Detainees Determined Eligible to Receive a Periodic Review Board as of April 19, 2013". Joint Review Task Force. April 9, 2013. Archivedfrom the original on May 19, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
- ^ "Guantanamo Bay Detainee Transfer Announced".
- ^ "Unclassified summary of final determination" (PDF). Department of Defense. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- theguardian.com. September 2, 2014. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
- ^ "Supreme Court rejects cases on Guantanamo detainee treat treatment". thefiscaltimes.com. March 9, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
- ^ Bailey, Nicole (October 26, 2013). "Government Gave Zero Dark Thirty Filmmakers Classified Info". Townhall.
External links
- Jardin, Xeni (December 9, 2009). "Detainee 063: serialized interrogation and torture log of Mohamed al-Qahtani". Boing Boing.
- "The "Ethical Interrogation": The Myth of Michael Gelles and the Qahtani Interrogation". Z Communications. December 7, 2009. Archived from the originalon January 5, 2010.
- The Final 9/11 Commission Report PDF, Government Printing Office, July 17, 2005
- The Final 9/11 Commission Report HTML, GPO, July 17, 2005
- Dedman, Bill (October 24, 2006). "Can the '20th hijacker' of Sept. 11 stand trial? Aggressive interrogation at Guantanamo may prevent his prosecution". NBC News.
- "Search began with a stubborn detainee", USA Today, June 22, 2004
- Guantanamo Provides Valuable Intelligence Information Department of Defense Press Release, June 12, 2005 – Description of Qahtani's interrogation at Guantanamo Bay
- Interview with Adam Zagorin about Qathani's interrogation log Archived January 18, 2014, at the The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, PBS, June 13, 2005
- Allegations of Abuse Archived January 15, 2014, at the Bantz Craddock and General Randall Schmidt.
- "'Clean team' interrogated 9-11 suspects"
- Human Rights First; "Tortured Justice: Using Coerced Evidence to Prosecute Terrorist Suspects" (2008) Archived June 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine