Abu Zubaydah, accused of ties to bin Laden and tortured after 9/11 has 20-year Guantanamo detention reviewed

FORT MEADE, US: A US government panel on Thursday reviewed the continued detention of Abu Zubaydah, a Palestinian-born detainee who has spent two decades at Guantanamo Bay without being charged, with his lawyers seeking his transfer from the prison and citing his age, health and the likelihood that he will never face prosecution.

Zubaydah, 55, appeared before the Periodic Review Board through a hearing whose unclassified proceedings were streamed to reporters at Fort Meade, Maryland. He was not permitted to speak and remained seated beside his lawyer and a government-appointed representative.

His private attorney, Annika Conrad, argued that the US government could no longer justify his continued detention and said he posed no security threat. She told the panel that Zubaydah was prepared to accept security measures, including continuous monitoring, if transferred to another country.

Conrad also said a senior military prosecutor had indicated that it was unlikely Zubaydah would ever be charged. The Office of Military Commissions declined to comment on the claim.

Zubaydah’s lawyers have maintained that he was never a member of al-Qaida, despite acknowledging that he knew Osama bin Laden. Conrad said the government’s position after more than two decades amounted to a “probable association” with bin Laden and noted that Zubaydah had declined a request from him to work for al-Qaida.

The US initially portrayed Zubaydah as a senior al-Qaida figure after his capture in Pakistan in 2002. Washington later abandoned that assessment but has continued to regard him as a security risk.

Zubaydah was the first detainee subjected to the CIA’s post-9/11 enhanced interrogation programme. He was held at secret CIA facilities before being transferred to Guantanamo in 2006.

His lawyers say he suffered lasting physical and cognitive injuries during his detention and interrogation. Conrad told the panel that he lost his left eye, struggled to recall words and had lost the ability to write in English.

A US Senate report found that Zubaydah was waterboarded more than 80 times in one month and confined for extended periods in a box described as coffin-sized. The European Court of Human Rights has also documented his detention at CIA black sites in Poland and Lithuania.

Zubaydah’s legal challenges over his treatment have continued. In 2022, the US Supreme Court dismissed his effort to obtain testimony from two former CIA contractors as part of an investigation into his treatment in Poland, after the government invoked state-secrets protections.

His lawyers also said Britain agreed in January to a confidential settlement of a lawsuit alleging that UK intelligence agencies were complicit in his torture. A British parliamentary committee had previously found that UK security and intelligence services were aware that Zubaydah was being tortured but continued providing questions for CIA interrogators.

The Periodic Review Board, comprising senior officials from the US defence, intelligence and homeland security establishments, did not issue an immediate decision on Thursday. The board was established during the Obama administration to assess whether Guantanamo detainees could be transferred or released without posing a threat to US national security.