WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Three detainees from  Guantanamo Bay were transferred to Saudi Arabia “under  appropriate security measures,” the U.S. Justice Department  said yesterday, in another step toward President Barack Obama’s  goal of closing the prison for terrorism suspects.  

“All individuals transferred to Saudi Arabia are subject to  judicial review in Saudi Arabia before they undergo a  rehabilitation program,” the Justice Department said in  announcing the transfer of Khalid Saad Mohammed, Abdalaziz  Kareem Salim Al Noofayaee and Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair.
  
All three men are from Saudi Arabia.  
Last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a  visit to Riyadh he was impressed with the Saudi program to  rehabilitate militants and the United States had raised the  idea of also sending Yemeni detainees to the kingdom.
  
The Saudi transfers followed the transfer of six other  detainees this week — four Chinese members of the Uighur  ethnic group were released in Bermuda, and one detainee from  Iraq and another from Chad were sent to their home countries.  

Obama has ordered the closing of the prison on a U.S. naval  base in Cuba, which now holds 229 detainees, by the end of  January. 
 
Guantanamo Bay, opened under former President George W.  Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, drew international  criticism for holding prisoners indefinitely, many without  charges.