US Justice Department officials announced Wednesday afternoon that Yaser Hamdi - born an American citizen, raised in Saudi Arabia and captured in Afghanistan allegedly fighting for the Taliban in late 2001 - would shortly be sent to Saudi Arabia under an agreement made between him and the US government. Hamdi has been held by the US military without charge for over two years after being designated an "enemy combatant". In June of this year, the US Supreme Court held that he and other so-designated individuals could challenge their status in the federal courts, at which point officials began to speak of Hamdi's outright release.

Under the agreement, Hamdi will renounce his US citizenship on arrival in Saudi Arabia, where he is also a citizen, and undertakes never to return to the United States; he is furthermore barred from travelling to Afghanistan, Iraq and other sensitive destinations and is required to notify Saudi authorities should he ever plan to leave that country. JURIST's Paper Chase has been following the Hamdi case here. Reuters has more.