WASHINGTON, Jan 14: A Pentagon official acknowledged in an interview published on Wednesday that the United States tortured Mohammed Al-Qahtani, a Saudi man who allegedly had hoped to become the “20th hijacker” in the Sept 11 attacks.

“We tortured Qahtani,” said Susan J. Crawford, a retired judge who was appointed convening authority of military commissions in February 2007. Crawford was interviewed by The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward.

Al-Qahtani was one of six men charged by the military in February 2008 with murder and war crimes for their alleged roles in the 2001 attacks.

However in May, Crawford decided to dismiss the charges against Al-Qahtani, who was being held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

—AP