[JURIST] Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of the Interior [official website] announced Monday that a former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder] inmate who had completed the country’s militant rehabilitation program surrendered to Saudi authorities. Adnan al-Sayegh, who was placed in the Ministry’s rehabilitation program after returning from Guantanamo in 2006, escaped to Yemen and rejoined al Qaeda [JURIST news archive]. He expressed remorse [Reuters report] when he surrendered himself to the authorities, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Interior. Sayegh argued that he was deceived into joining the terrorist group. He was placed on the country’s wanted list in 2009 as the 85th most wanted terrorist. Authorities stated that he will receive proper procedure and that his surrender will be taken into consideration. The rehabilitation center was a measure by the country addressing the attacks initiated by Islamist militants during 2003 and 2006.

Saudi Arabia has previously been criticized for ties to al Qaeda. In March Judge George Daniels for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) [official website] dismissed a motion to reinstate Saudi Arabia as a defendant in the civil compensation lawsuit by victims and commercial insurers against the perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks [JURIST backgrounder] finding no sufficient basis to grant the plaintiffs’ motion. He noted that such a motion was already presented to SDNY and rejected in 2005 by Judge Richard Conway Casey, who dismissed Saudi Arabia as a defendant [JURIST report] at that time. The claim against Saudi Arabia was dismissed [JURIST report] in 2008 by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit because there was insufficient evidence that the Kingdom’s princes had actual knowledge that their money was going to be used in the 9/11 attacks. Even after 10 years, cases brought by victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack against other governmental entities did not come to an end.