Germany has deported to Tunisia a man who once allegedly protected Osama Bin Laden and had been living in Germany with his family since 1997.
The 42-year-old Tunisian, known as Sami A, was put on a flight from Düsseldorf early on Friday, despite a German court ruling against his deportation.
The faxed court decision reached the authorities too late to stop Sami A being deported, a court official said.
Sami A had argued that he could be tortured if sent back to Tunisia.
“I can confirm that Sami A was sent back to Tunisia this morning and handed over to Tunisian authorities,” said interior ministry spokeswoman Annegret Korff, quoted by AFP news agency.
Bin Laden ran the al-Qaeda jihadist network and approved the devastating 9/11 terror attacks on the US in 2001. He was shot dead by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011.
Sami A was considered a security risk while living in the western city of Bochum, where he was receiving €1,168 (£1,022) a month in welfare payments. His asylum application was rejected in 2007.
He denies jihadist links. He has been living in Bochum with a German wife and four children.
At least three of the 9/11 suicide pilots were members of an al-Qaeda cell based in Hamburg, northern Germany.
According to witness testimony from a German anti-terror trial in 2005, Sami A served for several months in 2000 as one of Bin Laden’s bodyguards in Afghanistan. He denies that, but judges in Düsseldorf believed the witness.
He had obtained a temporary residence permit in Germany in 1999 and took several technology courses. He moved to Bochum in 2005.