Saudi Avoids Guantanamo hearing Over Search Fear

A Guantanamo inmate from Saudi Arabia -- accused of being a former al-Qaida recruiter -- refused to appear at a hearing Monday to avoid undergoing a body search, his representative said.

A six-member review panel is examining whether U.S. officials should continue to hold Muhammad Abd Al-Rahman Al-Shumrani, 39, without charge, repatriate him, or release him to a third country.

Al-Shumrani's is the sixth case being examined by the Periodic Review Board, which was created in 2011 by the administration of President Barack Obama as part of his goal to shutter the detention facility.

The board has already recommended the transfer of two Yemenis and the detention of another, but has not issued rulings in other cases.

Al-Shumrani is the second inmate at the controversial military-run jail in Cuba who has refused to participate in the hearing.

He refuses to attend appointments outside the detention block where he is held to avoid being subjected to a body search that run contrary to his "his strong cultural beliefs," his representative said.

"For this detainee, the body search as conducted, which requires the guard to touch the area near his genitals, is humiliating and degrading," his legal representative said.

"His convictions do not imply an unwillingness to cooperate, nor do they establish or support in any way that he is a significant threat to the United States.

"Muhammad is a man who wants to start over and should be given a second chance," he said, adding that his client wished to return to his native Saudi Arabia and enroll in the country's rehabilitation program for ex-Guantanamo detainees. 

According to the United States, Al-Shumrani served as a recruiter for al-Qaida and the Taliban in Saudi Arabia before later fighting in Afghanistan against the Northern Alliance and "almost certainly" U.S. forces.

The Saudi was described as a "problematic and unpredictable detainee" who had encouraged other prisoners not to cooperate with detention staff.

"He repeatedly has told interrogators and other detainees he would re-engage in extremism if he were released from Guantanamo," the government said.

Al-Shumrani is one of 45 Guantanamo detainees held without charge or trial who has not received approval for transfer by military authorities, deemed too dangerous for release even if there is not enough evidence for a prosecution. 

Some 77 others have been classified as suitable for transfer, provided a destination can be found.