"Terrorist", Enemy Combatant Hamdi is Released Flown Home to Saudi

The United States flew long-held accused enemy combatant Yaser Hamdi to Saudi Arabia after a 10-day delay caused by worries in Riyadh about his release deal, U.S. officials said on Monday. The transfer of American-born, Saudi-raised Hamdi ends a case that led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Americans held in the United States as "enemy combatants" must be able to contest their detention. Hamdi had been in U.S. military custody since he was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan in November 2001 and accused of fighting for the Taliban militia that had harbored Osama bin Laden. No charges were brought against him. "He came home," his father Esam Hamdi told Reuters by telephone. "He just arrived and we are happy to see him." The United States agreed in September to free Hamdi by the end of the month but Saudi officials complained they were told too little about the deal struck with his lawyers and held up the departure until Sunday, according to an official who asked not to be identified. In a case that has caused some friction between the two traditional allies, U.S. officials said the Saudis also raised questions about how to enforce terms such as the ban on Hamdi leaving the kingdom for five years. [more ]