Abu Zubaydah’s payout follows a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that the country had fallen foul of the European Convention on Human Rights by facilitating his torture.

Mr Zubaydah, who is around 50 years old, was captured in Pakistan in 2002. He was taken to Guantanamo Bay in 2006 after being held at black sites around the world. He has never been charged.

He was held at a CIA black site in Lithuania between February 2005 and March 2006 and was repeatedly waterboarded and suffered sleep and sensory deprivation. He was also held in coffin-sized boxes for days on end.

While the payment has been deposited in a bank account, Mr Zubaydah cannot access it as he is still imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay.

“The situation is a lot less incommunicado when you pay €100,000 to someone and the whole world knows about it,” Mark Denbeaux, a member of his US legal team, said.

“This move is consistent with the idea that the US is softening its position on the detention of the forever prisoners.”

He added: “The US could clearly have kept Lithuania from handing over this money and the question is, why didn’t they?”

Barack Obama, who had vowed to close Guantanamo Bay during his presidency, never did. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.