“Five Saudi citizens detained in Guantanamo were handed over to Saudi security forces yesterday following continuous official contacts aimed at bringing them back home,” Prince Naif said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency.

Nearly 100 of the more than 150 Al-Qaeda suspects detained at the US naval base are Saudis. Riyadh has been in contact with Washington ever since news of the detention of the Saudis was made public.

In all, over 560 suspected Taleban and Al-Qaeda fighters, nationals of more than 30 countries, are being held by the Americans.

The US, Pakistani and Afghan authorities are believed to have captured an unspecified number of Saudis who fought alongside Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan following the defeat of the Taleban.

The Kingdom has dispatched a team of experts to inspect the conditions of Saudi detainees in Guantanamo

News of the release of the five Saudis circulated for the last two days after a team of lawyers defending Saudi Guantanamo prisoners spoke of an imminent release following a meeting between officials and the US ambassador to the Kingdom.

A statement by the defense team said Ambassador Robert Jordan had assured them that all prisoners were treated humanely by his country.

The statement stressed the suffering of the suspects’ families and recalled their insistence that their loved ones had been in Afghanistan on a humanitarian mission and were not involved in any terrorist acts.