[3] Human Rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith identified el Gharani as one of a dozen teenage boys held in the adult portion of the prison.
[4] The Independent said el Gharani was accused of plotting with Abu Qatada, in London, in 1999 – when he was a 12-year-old, living with his parents, in Saudi Arabia.
[6][7] On January 14, 2009, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the release of el Gharani because the evidence that he was an enemy combatant was mostly limited to statements from two other detainees whose credibility had been called into question by US government staff.
[12] The Globe reported that El Gharani was alleged to have been part of a cell, in London, led by Abu Qatada, c. 1998 – when he was 11 or 12 years old.
[14] Stafford Smith reports that his client Mohammed el Gharani, one of the youngest of the Guantanamo detainees, has been interrogated at length trying to establish a tie between him and the suicides.
[17][18] Leon dismissed all the US allegations that el Gharani had been observed in Afghanistan, because there was no evidence to support them—other than denunciations from two other captives—captives whose credibility he questioned.
[22] Andy Worthington, the author of The Guantanamo Files, reported that el Gharani was still not free after his return, as he was held by Chadian security forces, who described this detention as a formality.
[23] Reuters reports that Commander Jeffrey Gordon continued to insist that el Gharani was older than he claimed.
[25] They report that since el Gharani grew up in Saudi Arabia he is unable to speak to any other Chadians in their local language.
[3] Avant Garde musician Laurie Anderson collaborated with el Gharani in a work entitled Habeas Corpus, based on his life.