U.S. Sends to Saudi Arabia Gitmo Detainee Accused of Killing American

WASHINGTON -- One of three Guantanamo Bay detainees transferred by the Obama administration to Saudi Arabia had been implicated in the murder of an American.

The detainee, Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair, was accused in the 1995 shooting death of William Jefferson of Camden, N.J., who was working for the United Nations at the time in Bosnia. The death initially was thought to be the result of a mugging, but authorities later determined it was related to terrorism.

Zuhair was found with Jefferson's watch, according to a FOX News source, though apparently there wasn't enough evidence for the U.S. to prosecute him in military commissions.

The release of the three detainees to Saudi Arabia -- the other two are Khalid Saad Mohammed and Abdalaziz Kareem Salim Al Noofayaee -- comes amid fierce opposition in Congress to releasing such prisoners into the United States, but the White House insisted Friday it has not ruled that out.

But with narrowing options, the administration has begun shipping newly cleared inmates abroad to regain momentum in its effort to close the Cuba-based prison camp.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration has not abandoned the possibility of releasing detainees in the U.S., but he added that national security considerations would govern any moves.

"We're not going to make any decisions about transfer or release that threatens the security of the country," Gibbs said at the end of a week in which nine detainees were transferred under high security to foreign nations, and one to the United States to face trial.

Gibbs said the release of those detainees showed "marked progress" and other decisions were being made on a case-by-case basis. President Barack Obama said last month that the cases of 50 detainees had been reviewed-- and the administration said 48 of them were waiting for release to foreign nations.

But the prospects for any transfers of Guantanamo inmates to the mainland U.S. have dimmed in recent weeks as Congress acted to block funding to pay for the moves. And foreign countries have been hesitant to take even cleared detainees who were deemed not to pose security threats.

With the latest transfer, the U.S. has removed 10 detainees from Guantanamo in the past week, sending four to Bermuida, one to Chad, one to Iraq, and one to face trial in New York City. That leaves 229 detainees still at the U.S. military detention center in Cuba.

The three detainees who were sent home to Saudi Arabia will be subject to judicial review in Saudi Arabia before they participate in a "rehabilitation" program administered by the Saudi government, the U.S. Justice Department said.

U.S. officials told the Associated Press they were close to a deal with Saudi Arabia and Yemen under which Saudi Arabia would take about 100 Yemeni detainees and place them in Saudi-run terrorist rehabilitation centers.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic contacts, would not say how many Yemenis might be transferred or when the agreement might be finalized.

Negotiations on the fate of the Yemeni inmates have been under way for months, stalled over a Saudi demand that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh publicly endorse the proposal, the officials said. Saleh had refused to do so fearing a backlash among his people, the officials said, and, as of late last month, he preferred for Yemen to set up its own centers.

Obama has pledged to close Guantanamo by early next year, and U.S. officials have been searching for places to resettle detainees, lobbying hard with foreign governments. The pace of those efforts picked up last month after Congress said it would prevent detainees, even those cleared of wrongdoing, from being brought to the U.S.

A deal in principle has been reached with the Pacific island nation of Palau to accept some other detainees.

Besides detainees who might be freed, tried or turned over to foreign governments, there are still others -- highly dangerous -- who the administration says can be neither freed nor tried. These prisoners-- "people who in effect remain at war with the United States," Obama has said-- include detainees who may have received extensive al-Qaida training, commanded Taliban troops or sworn allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

Despite Gibbs' comments, a key House panel approved legislation Friday that would deny immigration benefits to any Guantanamo detainees who might be released in the U.S. after being brought here for trial.

The bill, to be voted on soon by Congress, would be in effect until the end of the budget year at the end of September. Lawmakers could then extend the ban.

FOX News' Catherine Herridge and the Associated Press contributed to this report.