The two were recommended for transfer in 2009. They were held for 11 years without charges.
Additional releases are expected. On December 5, two Algerians were repatriated from Guantanamo, despite the prisoners’ protests they could face persecution there.
The Pentagon announced Sunday that it had transferred two detainees from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the control of the government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“As directed by the President’s Jan. 22, 2009, executive order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of these cases. As a result of that review, which examined a number of factors, including security issues, these men were designated for transfer by consensus of the six departments and agencies comprising the task force. In accordance with congressionally-mandated reporting requirements, the administration informed Congress of its intent to transfer these individuals,” the Pentagon said in a statement
The Pentagon also identified the transferred prisoners in the statement. Saad Muhammad Husayn Qahtani, 35, and Hamood Abdulla Hamood, 48, both of which were recommended for transfer in a 2009 review of their cases, have been moved by a US interagency task force as reported by the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera news network.
Neither man had been charged with a crime by the US since they were arrested in Pakistan in 2002 under suspicion of being al-Qaida members.
The US authorities considers Guantanamo detainees “illegal combatants,” who may be judged by military courts, or held indefinitely for interrogation in the name of the war against terrorism.
The Defense Department’s envoy for closing the prison at Guantanamo, Paul Lewis, thanked the kingdom of Saudi Arabia for accepting the detainees and supporting efforts to close the prison.
“The United States coordinated with the government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to ensure these transfers took place with appropriate security assurances and in a way that is consistent with our humane treatment policy,” Lewis said in the statement.
The U.S. authorities are cutting the numbers of people detained at Guantanamo Bay, however, 160 detainees are still held at the facility without charge or trial.
In January 2009, US president Barack Obama signed an executive order to close down the detention facility at Guantanamo, but has failed to follow through with a promise he made during his first electoral campaign.
The Saudi newspaper Al-Shaq Al-Awsat confirmed the arrival of Qahtani and Hamood to home on Monday.
According to reports the paper said that the US will continue to consult with Saudi authorities regarding this detainees.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Ministry of Interior said on Tuesday that both will go through the kingdom’s rehabilitation programme which designed to encourage the individuals to adopt the moderate path of Islam.
“They will be subjected to the regulations in force in the kingdom, which include benefiting from the counseling and care programmes,” Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Mansour Turki was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Later the released prisoners would participate in a follow-up program for emotional rehabilitation and meetings among religious scholars and people who have given up extremism, in a bid to restore their confidence and help ease them back into society.
It is worth mentioning that Saeed al-Shehri, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula’s second-in-command, who Saudi and Yemeni authorities said was dead of wounds sustained in a US drone attack in Yemen during the second half of December 2012, went through the programme after being sent home from Guantanamo in 2007.
AQAP, led by Nasser Al-Wuhayshi, is classified by the United States as the most active and deadly franchise in the global al-Qaida network.