Guantanamo prisoner sent to Saudi Arabia; first under Trump

MIAMI – A prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center has been sent back to his native Saudi Arabia to serve out the remainder of a 13-year sentence, making him the first detainee to leave the US base in Cuba since President Donald Trump took office.

The Pentagon announced the transfer of Ahmed Mohammed al-Darbi in a brief statement Wednesday, though he likely departed on a flight several days earlier and had originally been scheduled to return home as part of a plea deal no later than Feb. 20.

Al-Darbi pleaded guilty before a military commission at the US base in Cuba in 2014 to charges stemming from an al-Qaida attack on a French oil tanker. He is expected to serve out the rest of his sentence, about nine years, in a Saudi rehabilitation program as part of a plea deal that included extensive testimony against others held at Guantanamo.