Aymane Sassi (L), brother of Nissar Sassi, one of the French Guantanamo Bay detainees and deputy-mayor of Venissieux, Andre Gerin (R) give a press conference 27 July 2004 at the town hall in Venissieux after Sassi was handed over to French authorities. (Xinhua/AFP)

Aymane Sassi, brother of Nissar Sassi, one of the French Guantanamo Bay detainees arrives 27 July 2004 at the town hall in Venissieux for a press conference after Sassi was handed over to French authorities. (Xinhua/AFP)

A French military plane carrying four of the seven French nationals held at the US prison complex at Guatanamo Bay lands at Evreux, west of Paris, 27 July 2004.(Xinhua/AFP)

     PARIS, July 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Four French nationals detained by the United States in its prison complex at Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, were handed over to the French authorities on Tuesday and will arrive in Paris later in the day, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

    "After discussion between France and the United States on the subject of the French detainees in Guantanamo, the US Authorities decided to hand over to France at its military base of Guantanamo four of the detainees, who will be repatriated to France today," said the statement.

    "We follow the discussion with the US Authorities in order to obtain as soon as possible the handover of the other French detainees remaining at Guantanamo," it added.

    The four detainees' liberation was first announced by one of their lawyers, Jacques Debray, at a French radio station earlier Tuesday, without specifying their identities.

    Another three Frenchmen are still being detained in the camp of Guantanamo whose legitimacy is disputed and the detention condition is criticized by human rights organizations.

    The four released are due to arrive at a French military base Tuesday afternoon after a stop at a US base on Azores. They will be taken over by officials from the French counterintelligence agency DST and be transferred to French anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Louis Bruguiere, who is in charge of their judicial investigation since November 2002.

    According an agreement between Paris and Washington early July,six out of a total of seven French detainees were to be handed over to France custody. They are Mourad Benchellali, Imad Kanouni, Nizar Sassi, Brahim Yadel, Ridouane Khalid and Khaled Ben Mustafa.

   But the seventh detainee, India-born Mustaq Ali Patel, is excluded from being transferred. Enditem