A Qatari citizen who was held in the United
States since 2001 and declared an "enemy
combatant" has been released and returned
home.
Ali bin Kahlah al-Marri, who is a US resident,
was arrested shortly after the 9/11 attacks
and initially held on charges including credit
card fraud.
The government later argued that he was a
"sleeper agent" for al-Qaeda and he was held
in solitary confinement for six years after
being declared an "enemy combatant" and put
in military custody.
His lawyer Andrew J Savage told Al Jazeera
that al-Marri had been held under "extreme
circumstances" from June 2003 until October
2004 without counsel or access to anyone
outside the high-security facility where he was
being held.
He "experienced enhanced interrogation during
that time including dry-boarding", the lawyer
said. Dry-boarding is a torture method that
induces the first stages of asphyxiation by
stuffing the detainees’ airways with rags, then
taping shut his mouth and nose.
During the George W Bush era, the
designation "enemy combatant" allowed the
US to hold “terror suspects” at length without
criminal charges.
In 2009, al-Marri pleaded guilty to one count
of conspiracy to provide material support to a
terrorist organisation.
Savage said al-Marri had not been planning
an attack and had pleaded guilty so that he
could serve his sentence and then be reunited
with his wife and his five children in Qatar.
He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, but
the judge agreed to consider the time he had
already served.
Al-Marri had been slated to be released on
Sunday and deported to Qatar. He was freed
two days early and arrived in Doha on
Saturday, his family said.
He was the last "enemy combatant" to be held
on US soil.
Source: Al Jazeera
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