Muhammed Murdi Issa Al Zahrani

Muhammed Murdi Issa Al Zahrani is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba from August 5, 2002, until November 22, 2014. In 2004 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.

Muhammed Murdi Issa Al Zahrani was listed as one of the captives who the military alleges were members of either al Qaeda or the Taliban and associated with the other group. Mohammed Zahrani's documents were not among those the Department of Defense published.

On June 10, 2006, the Department of Defense reported that three captives died in custody. The Department of Defense stated the three men committed suicide. Camp authorities called the deaths "an act of asymmetric warfare", and suspected plans had been coordinated by the captive's attorneys—so they seized all the captives' documents, including the captives' copies of their habeas documents. Since the habeas documents were privileged lawyer-client communication the Department of Justice was compelled to file documents about the document seizures.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that Guantanamo captives were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed.

On June 12, 2008, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Boumediene v. Bush, that the Military Commissions Act could not remove the right for Guantanamo captives to access the US Federal Court system. And all previous Guantanamo captives' habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated.

On July 18, 2008, David W. DeBruin filed a renewal for the habeas corpus of two of the five captives in Said v. Bush. The petition stated that three of the captives had been repatriated. Mohammed Zahrani and Saad Al Qahtani were listed as captives who were still in detention in Guantanamo, who were requesting having their habeas petition re-instated.

Saudi Arabian captives had represented the largest group of foreigners apprehended in Afghanistan and transported to Guantanamo. However, by the end of 2007, almost all the Saudis had been sent home.

Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts. His assessment was ten pages long, and was drafted on July 4, 2008. His assessment was signed by Rear Admiral David M. Thomas, the camp commandant. It asserted his was a high risk to the USA, and recommended his continued detention.

Guantanamo Review Task Force

On January 22, 2009, shortly after he took office, President Barack Obama issued three executive orders directed at the detention of captives at Guantanamo. He created a new review procedure, the Guantanamo Joint Review Task Force. Where the officials reviewing captives' status for OARDEC were all military officers, the officials on the new task force were drawn from several government departments. The task force determined Zahrani was too dangerous to release, but too innocent to face charges—the press characterized him as a "forever prisoner".

Period Review Board

President Obama's executive orders promised that the status would be reviewed periodically, to determine if they were still too dangerous to release. Al Zahrani had a periodic review scheduled for 2014. His Board took months to publish its recommendation. On October 20, 2014, the Board's recommendation that Al Zahrani be transferred to Saudi Arabia was made public.