A guard talks to a Guantanamo detainee, inside the open yard at Camp 4 detention center, on January 21.
"I am angry in my heart," Iqbal said in a recent interview. "It's easy for the U.S. government to say, 'There are no charges found and he's free.'
"But who will be responsible for seven years of my life?"
His attorney in Washington, D.C., Richard Cys, said he is considering a lawsuit against the U.S. government, on behalf of Iqbal, but the details of the suit have not been worked out.
Cys said he is still waiting for the outcome of a habeas corpus petition, which "could be a vehicle for future lawsuit."
"We may well have claims arising from our habeas action, but we're still not sure what path we're going to pursue," he told CNN.
It would not the first lawsuit brought against the U.S. government by a former Guantanamo detainee.
New U.S President Barack Obama signed an executive oreder Thursday to close the camp within a year.
That could lead to an increase in the number of lawsuits brought by former detainees who -- like Iqbal -- say they were held for no reason.
A former Gitmo detainee talks about his experiences »The Pakistani citizen was taken into U.S. custody in January 2002 while visiting family in Indonesia. He was reportedly arrested after talking about making a shoe bomb, something he denies.
"I never (made) that statement," Iqbal said. "But they have (said) a lot of things, like I went to Afghanistan, but they have no proof."
Iqbal says while in U.S. custody, he was taken to Egypt, then to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. In March 2003, he arrived at Guantanamo's military prison, which became a lightning rod for critics who charged that the Bush administration had used torture on terror detainees.
"Even when they take me to hospital, I can't even walk but they put me in 4 by 4 (cell), my hands tied with handcuffs and my legs also had leg shackles," he said.
The CIA and the Pentagon have repeatedly denied allegations of mistreatment and torture, saying all interrogation was lawfully done. In response to Iqbal's allegations, CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano told the New York Times earlier this month, "I have no idea what he's talking about."
Six months after he was admitted to Guantanamo, Iqbal said he tried to kill himself. While no one watched, Iqbal said he and several prison mates tried to hang themselves with bed sheets.
Four of the prisoners died, according to Iqbal. But his survival continued what he calls the theft of his freedom by the U.S. government.
President George W. Bush and other senior officials have repeatedly denied that the U.S. government had used torture to extract intelligence from terror suspects.
Obama issued three executive orders Thursday designed to show a clean break from the Bush administration on the war on terror. One ordered the closure of the Guantanamo Bay facility within a year.
A second executive order formally banned torture by requiring the Army field manual be used as the guide for terror interrogations, essentially ending the Bush administration's CIA program of enhanced interrogation methods.
The third establishes an inter-agency task force to lead a systematic review of detention policies and procedures and a review of all individual cases
Iqbal was among nearly 800 inmates who came through Guantanamo Bay, classified by Washington as suspected terrorists. Most were never charged with a crime.
With the help of a U.S.-based lawyer, Iqbal was released in September without ever being charged. He returned to Pakistan, walking with the help of a cane, complaining of back pain, a bad leg, and a torn ear drum -- all the result, he says, of his time in custody.
Not once during those nearly seven years in custody did anyone tell him why he was being held.
All they told him, according to Iqbal, was that they were sent "by the U.S. government (in) Washington, D.C., by (the) CIA, to interrogate you if you have any information about terrorists or terrorism."
"We have to convey that Islam is a peace(ful) religion and we (do) not hate anybody," he said