A Saudi prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre who was suspected of trying to join the 9/11 hijackers has been sent back to his home country for treatment for mental illness, the Department of Defense said.
Mohammad Ahmad al-Qahtani was flown back 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.
His lawyers say the 46-year-old prisoner has suffered from mental illness, including schizophrenia, since childhood. The US dropped plans to try him after a Bush administration legal official concluded he had been tortured at Guantanamo.
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