Nationality: Saudi
Residence: Kharj, Saudi Arabia
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Businessman
D.O.B.: c. 1979
ISN: 063
Date of Arrest: 2001
Location of Arrest: Afghanistan
Note: “enhanced interrogation techniques”? used 2002 (torture log link below)
Mohamed was 22 at the time of his first arrest. On August 4, 2001, al-Qahtani flew into Orlando, Florida, from Dubai. Al-Qahtani was then held by immigration officials. The officials were suspicious because al-Qahtani had little money, could speak no English, and used a one-way ticket. They thought he was trying to immigrate illegally. They then sent him back to Dubai.
Mohammed is suspected of being the 20th hijacker” along with Ramzi Binalshibh, Zacarias Moussaoui, Mushabib al-Hamlan, Zakariya Essabar, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Tawfiq bin Attash, and Khalid al Zahrani. Also wrongly accused were: Lotfi Raissi, Amer Kamfar, Ameer Bukhari, Adnan Bukhari, and Abdul al-Omari.
Mohamed stated that he came to the US to purchase cars to sell to earn money. His father had a business and sold used cars. After he was sent back to Dubai, he then traveled to Pakistan and then to Afghanistan.
After the 9/11 attacks, al-Qahtani was rounded up with many foreigners in Afghanistan and was sent to the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. After ten months, U.S. authorities discovered that he could be an alleged attempted hijacker, and he was aggressively interrogated. After details of his status were leaked, the US Department of Defense issued a press release stating that Qahtani had admitted (under harsh “enhanced interrogation techniques” that lasted 49 days of 20 plus hours a day of interrogation):
He had been sent to the U.S. by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged lead architect of the 9/11 attack;
That he had met Osama Bin Laden on several occasions;
That he had received terrorist training at two al-Qaeda camps;
That he had been in contact with many senior al-Qaeda leaders.
On March 3, 2006, Time magazine published the secret log of 49 days of 20-hour-per-day interrogation. The log described how al-Qahtani was forcibly administered intravenous fluids, and drugs, and was forcibly given enemas, in order to keep his body functioning well enough for the interrogations to go on.
The log, titled SECRET ORCON INTERROGATION LOG DETAINEE 063, offers a daily, detailed view of the interrogation techniques used to obtain confession from him from November 23, 2002, to January 11, 2003. These include the following:
- Restraint on a swivel chair for long periods
- Deprivation of sleep for long periods
- Loud music and white noise played to prevent the detainee from sleeping
- Various humiliations, such as training the detainee to act as a dog
- Lowering the temperature in the room, then throwing water to the detainee’s face
Forcing the detainee to pray to Osama Bin Laden
- Various interrogation techniques described as “pride & ego down”, “circumstantial evidence”, “fear-up”, or “Al Qaeda falling apart”.
At no point during the interrogation log does al-Qahtani explicitly admit to being a member of Al Qaeda, although his stated reasons for travelling to the United States and Afghanistan - what the US interrogators refer to as his cover story - appear inconsistent. Furthermore, the entry for 2003-01-01 relates how al-Qahtani blames Osama bin Laden for deceiving the 19 9/11 hijackers (”his friends”): “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.”
On March 3, 2006, al-Qahtani’s lawyer was allowed to reveal that her client had recanted the accusations he had leveled against his fellow detainees. He had told his lawyer that he was forced to falsely confess, and name names, in order to get his torture to end. Al-Qahtani had accused 30 other detainees of being former bodyguards of Osama bin Laden.
In November 2006, senior investigators with the Defense Department’s Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF) told MSNBC.com that they were told by military prosecutors that al-Qahtani would be “un-prosecutable” because of what was done to him during interrogation.
On September 6, 2006, President Bush announced that 14 detainees who had been held in previously secret overseas CIA interrogation centres, and subjected to interrogation techniques, like waterboarding and mock executions, had been sent to Guantanamo. The Washington Post reports that the new inmates will be held in conditions similar to those imposed on al-Qahtani, including isolation and 24 hours of continuous light.
Combatant Status Review Tribunal
Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.
Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants — rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration’s definition of an enemy combatant.
Allegations
The allegations presented to his Tribunal were:
a. The detainee is a member of al Qaida:
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The detainee swore a bayat to Usama Bin Laden.
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The detainee received training in the use of small arms, grenades, small unit tactics, and specialized weapons at a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.
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The detainee was sent to the United States by al Qaida to “serve your religion” and “do something good.”
- The detainee was denied entry into the United States by INS officials on 04 August 2001.
b. The detainee participated in military operations against the United States and its coalition partners.
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The detainee was present with Usama Bin Laden at the battle of Tora Bora.
- The detainee retreated along with 29 other mujahadeen from Tora Bora to the Pakistani Border, where they were captured by Pakistani Forces in December 2001
The Center for Constitutional Rights is defending Mohammed, read Al Qahtani v. Bush, Al Qahtani v. Gates
Inside The Interrogation Of Detainee 063 (Time)
Publication: The Torture of Mohammed Al Qahtani
Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald
