9 from Guantanamo released

Saudi Arabia took in nine Yemeni detainees Saturday from Guantanamo in a breakthrough deal that left 80 captives at the U.S. military detention center in Cuba.

Among the nine the U.S. Air Force delivered to Saudi Arabia was hunger striker Tariq Ba Odah, 38, who gained prominence by asking a federal judge to order his release after he fell to 74 pounds despite daily U.S. Navy medical tube feedings.

Cleared for years, Ba Odah, like the others released, could not go back to Yemen because of a White House policy that forbids repatriations to the poor, violent nation on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

But in a turnabout, the Saudi government agreed to take noncitizens from Guantanamo to its rehabilitation program set up to help Saudi jihadists transition back into society. All nine men have relatives living there, according to a U.S. official. Four of them were born in Saudi Arabia to Yemeni parents.

The nine released this weekend got to Guantanamo in 2002. Several were cleared for release during the George W. Bush presidency. Not one was ever charged with a crime.

The transfer comes a week ahead of President Barack Obama’s trip to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with the leaders of Gulf Cooperation Council countries.