Updated

A Mauritanian official says a former al-Qaida militant who gained fame with the publication of a diary about life at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has arrived in his country after nearly 14 years of detention.

The official said Mohamedou Ould Slahi landed Monday in Nouakchott on a U.S. military plane. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press.

Ould Slahi had been held without charges since 2002, and was approved for release from the detention center at the U.S. base in Cuba in July. He attracted attention in 2015 with the publication of "Guantanamo Diary," the first and only memoir by an still-imprisoned Guantanamo detainee.

The Pentagon had no announcement to make at this time, said a spokeswoman, Army Lt. Col. Valerie Henderson.