Researching Abd Janko

When a videotape of al-Janko's 2000 interrogation on charges of sodomy and espionage against the Taliban was discovered by American forces in the rubble of Mohammed Atef's house; the Bush administration released the video, which showed al-Janko breaking down in tears, but stripped the tape of its audiotrack and falsely declared that it was a "martyrdom video", claiming that al-Janko spoke of dying as a martyr following the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Although U.S. officials internally acknowledged the video to be his filmed interrogation by the Taliban, the American government publicly continued labelling it as a "martyrdom" recording, and added al-Janko to the FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list. Amnesty International condemned the use of a video showing al-Janko being interrogated by militants as proof of his association with them as "kafkaesque".

While held at Guantanamo, his captors noted that "as a result of his [Taliban] imprisonment, [he] could not have participated in hostilities against US and Coalition forces", and noted that "it is unlikely [he] would ever ever be trusted by an Islamic militant group", but tribunals nevertheless repeated classified him as an "enemy combatant". Medical staff also wrote that he suffered from depression, had attempted suicide, and was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder; the United States thus assessed him as a "high threat from a detention perspective" and noted that he had 112 discipline infractions in his file for throwing food, failing to follow instructions, exposing his sexual organs and possession of food contraband. Al-Janko maintains that the BPD diagnosis was intended to mask his posttraumatic stress disorder arising from his mistreatment and captivity by the Taliban and United States.

On June 20, 2008, he became the first Guantanamo detainee to demand in a U.S. federal court that the military show evidence that justified his detention. The judge ruled that the American argument in favour of holding al-Janko in continued captivity "defies common sense".

He was quietly released by the United States in 2009, after seven years' captivity, and is currently living in Antwerpen, Belgium.