The US tortured one of the alleged 9/11 planners held at Guantánamo Bay, according to new claims by a top Pentagon official that come days before President-elect Barack Obama is expected to direct the closure of the controversial detention facility.

Susan Crawford, the Pentagon official responsible for convening the military commissions at Guantánamo, told the Washington Post that interrogators had “tortured” Mohammed al-Qahtani, the alleged 20th hijacker.