WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The U.S. review board consisting of six-national security agencies issued a recommendation to repatriate a mentally ill Guantanamo Bay detainee, Mohammed al-Qahtani, who the United States suspected of planning to participate in the September 11 attacks, according to a filing from the parole-like board.
“The Periodic Review Board, by consensus, determined that continued law of war detention of the detainee is no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States,” the review broad said in a filing.
The review board suggested sending Qahtani to a mental health care facility in Saudi Arabia.
U.S. media reported that the Joe Biden administration is expected to send Qahtani to Saudi Arabia as early as March.
Qahtani was reportedly tortured by U.S. military interrogators at Guantanamo Bay and a senior U.S. defense official determined he could not be prosecuted due to how he was initially treated.
A Navy doctor suggested last year that Qahtani, who spent about 20 years in Guantanamo Bay, should be transferred since he would not receive the medical treatment he needed at the naval base and the detainee was considered too impaired to pose a threat in the future, according to media reports.