Seven Guantanamo prisoners returned to Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, Feb 21 (Reuters) Saudi Arabia said today that seven Saudis held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay had arrived home after the United States freed them.

The official Saudi news agency SPA said Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz ''expressed his appreciation at the level of cooperation with the US authorities, hoping that this step will pave the way to free all remaining Saudis soon''.

Saudi public anger over the treatment of Saudi detainees in Guantanamo has been high in the Gulf Arab state, a key US ally.

Two Saudis were among three prisoners who hanged themselves in June at the prison.

Kateb al-Shammari, lawyer for the Saudi detainees, said there remains 68 Saudis among the nearly 400 detainees still held at the controversial facility in Cuba.

''The families of the detainees are still waiting for the release of all of their sons ... This latest step is not enough,'' he said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia has freed many of the 45 prisoners who were repatriated last year after they ended their jail terms in Saudi prisons under a deal arrangement with Washington. Some have been released to their families under a form of supervised parole.

Many of the men held at Guantanamo were captured in Afghanistan in the US-led war to oust the Taliban after the September 11 attacks. Many have been held for years and nearly all are being held without charge.

Most of the 19 suicide hijackers who carried out the attacks on US cities in 2001 were Saudis.

Washington has designated Guantanamo prisoners ''enemy combatants'', denying them the prisoner of war status that would guarantee them certain rights under international law.

Reuters PDM RN2020