US says Guantanamo inmate sent back to Tunisia

Guantanamo Bay inmate Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi has been repatriated to Tunisia, the US Department of Defense says.

He was found eligible for transfer from the detention facility after a “rigorous interagency review process”, a press statement said.

The Pentagon did not say if Mr Yazidi had accepted any guilt.

Since 2002, the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has been used to hold what the US describes as captured unlawful combatants during America’s “war on terror”.

The camp is part of a US naval base complex in south-eastern Cuba.

The Pentagon statement said 26 detainees remained at Guantanamo Bay, of whom 14 were eligible for transfer.