Kuwaiti detainee transferred from Guantanamo

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A prisoner held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was released Wednesday, a Defense Department statement said.

Fawzi al Odah, a Kuwaiti regarded as a low-level prisoner and held for 13 years, was repatriated to the custody of the government of Kuwait, which the Defense Dept. thanked for its cooperation and involvement.

Odah will live in a rehabilitation program in Kuwait, officials said.

His transfer is the first under a new U.S. protocol of hearings, similar to that of a parole board, which reviews whether Guantanamo inmates need to be imprisoned. It is a goal of the Obama administration to close the prison, and the Pentagon has notified Congress nine other detainees may be transferred -- including six to Uruguay -- by the end of the year.

Four others, from Afghanistan, have been the subject of White House discussion. Plans were underway to transfer the four, but officials reassessed the timing of the move after military leaders in the Pentagon and in Afghanistan questioned whether the detainees could return home and cause harm to U.S. troops.

The official said U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is still considering the transfers of the Afghan detainees.

Odah is the first detainee to be transferred from Guantanamo Bay since May, when five Taliban prisoners, not recommended for release, were traded for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the United States' only prisoner of war from the Afghan campaign.