Homeland Security

            The Department of Defense announced today that it transferred Yaser Esam Hamdi, an enemy combatant held at the Consolidated Naval Brig in Charleston, S.C., to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Hamdi arrived in Saudi Arabia on October 11.

            Hamdi was detained as an enemy combatant due to his involvement with a Taliban military unit in Afghanistan.

            The U.S. government negotiated with Hamdi, through his counsel, the conditions for his transfer to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  These conditions included Hamdi's agreement to renounce any claim he may have to U.S. citizenship and to restrict his travel.  In light of the terms of our agreement with Hamdi, the United States concluded that considerations of United States national security did not require his continued detention.

            Hamdi's transfer is a result of negotiations between him, his attorney, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Defense.