The dropping of charges against Mohammad Manea Al-Qahtani, a Saudi national detained at Guantanamo Bay, has raised hopes that he may be released soon. The US government dropped charges against Al-Qahtani in May after the Supreme Court allowed Guantanamo inmates to challenge their detention, Getangali Guetirez, US attorney of Al-Qahtani, was quoted by Al-Watan Arabic daily as saying. The female lawyer also said she was in possession of the copies of official documents proving that senior White House officials were fully aware that Al-Qahtani was being tortured in the facility. She said some documents even indicate that the torture was being committed by the express approval of some of the officials who were regularly monitoring the treatment being meted out to Al-Qahtani. Al-Qahtani, born in 1979, is spending his sixth year in detention. Guetirez said all the evidence which the US government relied upon for Al-Qahtani's indictment was extorted through torture and was therefore legally valueless. The continued detention of Al-Qahtani is unwarranted, she said. Al-Qahtani has been subjected to the most gruesome forms of torture and underwent special interrogation endorsed by former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld involving beating, remaining in an uncomfortable physical position for long hours, threatened with dogs, exposure to loud music and excessive cold, forcing the detainee to emulate pigs by picking up garbage with his mouth, threatening the detainee with harming his family, depriving him of sleep for 20 straight hours for several continuous months, sexual humiliation and forced stripping in the presence of female interrogators. As a result, claims Gueterez, Al-Qahtani sustained physical injuries and psychological disorders including difficulty in concentrating and memory lapses. Furthermore, he repeatedly attempted suicide in desperation. Gueterez deems Al-Qahtani's case to be one of the major cases which the Constitutional Rights Protection Center, an independent organization, has relied upon to file lawsuits against a number of government officials at European courts to prevent them from feeling legally safe upon traveling to these countries in future. __
