RIYADH - Saudi authorities said Tuesday they had freed 29 prisoners handed over to them after their release from the US detention camp at Guantanamo in Cuba.
The 28 Saudi nationals and a foreigner born in the oil-rich kingdom were ordered released by Saudi justice and were freed some time last week, a spokesman for Interior Minister Mansur al-Turki was quoted as saying by the official SPA agency.
Prior to their release, the men were told in the presence of their families that "their respect for rules and directives will be a determining factor in obtaining the repatriation of other Saudis who are still held abroad," he said.
A total of 53 individuals from Saudi Arabia have returned from Guantanamo. The bodies of two Saudi inmates, whom the United States said committed suicide at the camp in June, have also been repatriated.
At least 74 Saudis are still being held at the facility, a US naval base on the eastern tip of Cuba used as a detention centre for non-Americans captured in the US "war on terror".
The Pentagon said earlier this month that "around 395" people captured in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001 are still being held without charge at Guantanamo.
Washington has denied authorizing torture there, while defending the use of robust interrogation techniques in a bid to uncover terror plots.
12/26/2006 14:26 GMT