10 Jan 2014

Guantanamo detainee to be released

8:08 pm on 10 January 2014

The United States says a man from Yemen, held without charge for more than a decade at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, is no longer considered too dangerous and can be released.

Mahmud Mujahid was accused of being an al-Qaeda fighter and a bodyguard of Osama bin Laden.

He has become the first person to have their case reviewed by a special US government panel.

After 12 years at the US Navy base in Cuba without being formally charged, the Pentagon says the Yemeni national no longer poses a continuing significant threat to national security.

Mr Mujahid is now eligible for release, but due to instability in Yemen, it is not clear when he will actually be allowed to leave the military jail.