BERLIN, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. officials have freed German-Turkish Guantanamo prisoner Murat Kurnaz, who is due to arrive in Germany Thursday, according to news reports.
German mass daily Bild said Kurnaz' plane would land late Thursday afternoon at Ramstein, a U.S. Air Force base in western Germany.
The German government did not comment on Kurnaz' release. Manfred Docke, the inmate's German lawyer, said in a written statement e-mailed to the press that the reunion with his family would happen in private, and that a news conference would likely be held Friday.
Observers say Kurnaz' release is a sign of the good relations Chancellor Angela Merkel has fostered with U.S. President George W. Bush. Merkel tried to have Kurnaz freed when she took office in late 2005.
Ever since Kurnaz' case became known to the public, in 2004, there have been rumors of his imminent release.
The now 24-year-old was arrested while in Pakistan in late 2001, and has spent the last five years in Guantanamo, where he claims he was repeatedly abused.
U.S. officials said he has been held as an enemy combatant, but German intelligence -- backed by a U.S. court -- early on said he had no links with terrorist organizations.
Lawyers in Germany and the United States have since fought for his release.
