Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Guantanamo prisoner on hunger strike returns to Saudi Arabia
A Guantanamo prisoner who had been on continual hunger strike for almost four years has been released.
- AP
- Published: 08:51 June 13, 2009
San Juan: A Guantanamo prisoner who had been on continual hunger strike for almost four years has been released.
The US Justice Department says Ahmed Zuhair and two other detainees have been sent home to Saudi Arabia, where they will be subject to judicial review before entering a government-run "rehabilitation" programme.
A lawyer for Zuhair, Ramzi Kassem, said on Friday his client "is elated to be back in his homeland."
Zuhair had been held at Guantanamo since June 2002 and had refused to eat since the summer of 2005. He was force-fed a liquid mix to keep him alive.
US authorities allege Zuhair trained with the Taliban and Al Qaida in Afghanistan and belonged to a fighting group in Bosnia in the mid-1990s - allegations denied by his lawyer.
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