A man who spent a decade as a prisoner in the U.S. detention facility for militants in Guantanamo Bay returned Wednesday to his native Sudan after completing a shortened sentence for aiding Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Ibrahim al-Qosi was getting reacquainted with his wife and two daughters and other family members and will spend some time in a government-sponsored reintegration program in the capital, Khartoum, before returning to his hometown, said his lawyer Paul Reichler.

Al-Qosi, who recently turned 52, had not seen his family since he was captured and sent to the U.S. base in Cuba in early 2002. His release brings the prison population down to 168.

"I guess you call this probably the best birthday present he ever received," Reichler, a Washington-based specialist in international law, said in a phone interview from Greece, where he was speaking at a legal conference.

The Pentagon and state-run media in Sudan confirmed al-Qosi's release.