DUBAI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A Saudi citizen who had been held in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay arrived back in the kingdom on Thursday, state news agency SPA reported.

"As part of efforts to return Saudis detained outside the kingdom, by the grace of God almighty, the citizen Jubran bin Saad bin Waza al-Qahtani was returned from Guantanamo Bay and arrived in the kingdom on Thursday evening," a statement quoting an interior ministry spokesman said.

President Barack Obama has been seeking to shrink the inmate population at the prison on Cuba before he leaves office on Friday.





(Reporting by Noah Browning and Ahmed Tolba; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) ((noah.browning@thomsonreuters.com;))