SANA'A, Yemen -- Osama bin Laden's former driver returned home to Yemen on Wednesday to serve out his remaining prison sentence after the U.S. released him from Guantánamo Bay.

Salim Hamdan was transferred to Yemeni custody and taken to a state security prison after his arrival at a military base at Sana'a International Airport Wednesday night, a Yemeni security official said.

Hamdan -- the first man to go before a U.S. war crimes trial since the end of World War II -- was convicted on Aug. 6 of providing material support to terrorism. The military said it could keep him locked up indefinitely if it considered him to be a continued threat. Instead, he was sent home a month before his sentence expires from the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.

His family in Yemen asked to greet him when he arrived, but the government denied their request, said the Yemeni official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

Hamdan has never even seen his 7-year-old daughter, his attorney said.

Al Qaeda maintains an active presence in Yemen, the ancestral homeland of bin Laden and a mountainous, impoverished country on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

The jury of military officers convicted him of supporting terrorism but acquitting him of being part of al Qaeda's conspiracy to attack the United States. He was also cleared of providing missiles to al Qaeda and knowing his work would be used for terrorism.

''We welcome the release of Hamdan from Guantánamo and his return to his homeland, even though we believe his sentence is unlawful,'' said Ahmed Irman, a Yemeni human rights lawyer who works on cases involving Yemeni Guantánamo Bay detainees.

The U.S. has at least 90 Yemeni detainees in Guantánamo -- representing the largest single nationality there.

Though Yemen considers itself a strong partner with the U.S. in the fight against terrorism and American officials say Yemen has been helpful, Washington grumbles about what they call a history of lax detention policies.

The government has struggled to maintain order to some areas of the country that are beyond its control. In September, 13 people were killed during a suicide bombing outside the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a.

Al Qaeda's branch in Yemen claimed responsibility.

Last year, the U.S. State Department threatened to withhold aid from Yemen after it reportedly released a convicted plotter in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the Gulf of Aden harbor, an attack that killed 17 American sailors. Yemen later said the plotter was in custody.

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