Freed Guantanamo detainee arrives in France

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Algerian-born detainee was released on Friday from the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and transferred to France where he has relatives, U.S. and French officials said.

The detainee, Lakhdar Boumediene, was part of a landmark Supreme Court case that granted inmates at the military prison at the U.S. Navy base the legal right to challenge their confinement.

The release came on the same day the Obama administration announced reforms to the military commission system set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo.

The proposed changes are intended to better safeguard the rights of detainees but have angered supporters who say President Barack Obama broke a promise to end the tribunals.

The U.S. Justice Department said Boumediene's release was part of a review of all Guantanamo case detainees ordered by the new president and thanked France for taking him in.

"As we continue to make progress with our review of detainees, the assistance of our international allies is critical to the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay," said Matthew Olsen, executive director of the Guantanamo Review Task Force, in a statement released by the department.

In Paris, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier confirmed Boumediene had arrived in the country.

"Now that he is free, we hope that Lakhdar Boumediene can resume a normal life," Chevallier said in a statement.