Gitmo Judge Orders Charges Dropped – Use of Torture Likely Scotched 9/11 Suspect, al-Qahtani’s, Trial

The US has dropped charges against one of the six al-Qaida suspects charged with the 9/11 attacks, bolstering critics of the controversial military tribunal system set up to try the detainees.The Pentagon official in charge of military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay dropped the death penalty case against Mohammed al-Qahtani without explanation. Lawyers for al-Qahtani attributed the move to clear evidence that the detainee was tortured while in US custody.

“Mr al-Qahtani never made a single statement that was not extracted through torture or the threat of torture,” the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which represented al-Qahtani, said.

“The unconscionable techniques used on him are well-documented and were authorized directly by the White House.”

The Saudi-born al-Qahtani was brutally interrogated for 48 straight days at Guantánamo in 2002 using a plan approved by former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Charges against him were dismissed “without prejudice”, but the Pentagon claims the right to reinstate them at any time and to keep holding him at Guantánamo.

Bush administration lawyers who gave legal approval for the torture of al-Qahtani have exposed themselves to possible war crimes charges, according to UK human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, whose findings were first reported in the Guardian last month.

Tribunals are continuing for the other five suspects accused of aiding the 9/11 attacks, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, whom the CIA interrogated using the simulated drowning tactic known as waterboarding.

The dismissed charges against al-Qahtani raise the spectre of more legal setbacks for the Bush administration in the five remaining 9/11 cases. Mohammed’s lawyers have said they will challenge evidence against him that was extracted using torturous methods.

The trials of the five suspects are not expected to begin until next year. Officials at Guantánamo are considering televising the proceedings for families of Americans killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The 9/11 cases could be further complicated by the barring of the senior legal adviser at Guantánamo from the trial of a detainee accused of driving for Osama bin Laden.

A military judge in that case ruled that US air force General Thomas Hartmann imposed improper bias on prosecutors.