KHARTOUM, Sudan -- An Al Jazeera cameraman was released from U.S. custody at Guantánamo Bay and returned home to Sudan early Friday after six years of imprisonment that drew worldwide protests.

Sami al Hajj, who had been on a hunger strike for 16 months, grimaced as he was carried off a U.S. military plane by American personnel in Sudan's capital, Khartoum. He was put on a stretcher and taken straight to a hospital.

[In Washington, the Pentagon on Friday morning announced that, in all, nine detainees were released Thursday from the prison camps in southeast Cuba -- five to Afghanistan, three to Sudan, one to Morocco. The transfer left ''approximately 270 detainees'' at the U.S. military detention and interrogation center at Guantánamo.]

Al Jazeera showed footage of Hajj being carried into the hospital, looking feeble and with his eyes closed, but smiling. Some of the men surrounding his stretcher were kissing him on the cheek.

''Thank God . . . for being free again,'' he told Al Jazeera from his hospital bed. ''Our eyes have the right to shed tears after we have spent all those years in prison. . . . But our joy is not going to be complete until our brothers in Guantánamo Bay are freed,'' he added.

''The situation is very bad and getting worse day after day,'' he said of conditions at the U.S. prison camps in Cuba. He claimed guards prevent Muslims from practicing their religion and reading the Koran.

''Some of our brothers live without clothing,'' he said.

The U.S. military says it goes to great lengths to respect the religion of detainees, issuing them Korans, enforcing quiet among guard staff during prayer calls throughout the day. All cells in Guantánamo have an arrow that points toward the holy city of Mecca.

Hajj was released along with two other Sudanese from Guantánamo on Thursday. He was the only journalist from a major international news organization held at Guantánamo and many of his supporters saw his detention as punishment for a network whose broadcasts angered U.S. officials.

The military alleged he was a courier for a militant Muslim organization, an allegation his lawyers denied.

Hajj said he believed he was arrested because of U.S. hostility toward Al Jazeera and because the media was reporting on U.S. rights violations in Afghanistan.

Hajj was detained in December 2001 by Pakistani authorities as he tried to enter Afghanistan to cover the U.S.-led invasion. He was turned over to the U.S. military and taken in January 2002 to Guantánamo Bay, where the United States holds some 275 men suspected of links to al Qaeda and the Taliban, most of them without charges.

Reprieve, the British human rights group that represents 35 Guantánamo prisoners, including Hajj, said Pakistani forces apparently seized Hajj at the behest of U.S. authorities who suspected he had interviewed Osama bin Laden.

But that ''supposed intelligence'' turned out to be false, Reprieve said in a news release.

''This is wonderful news, and long overdue,'' said Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve's director, who has represented Hajj since 2005. ``The U.S. administration has never had any reason for holding Mr. al Hajj, and has, instead, spent six years shamelessly attempting to turn him against his employers at Al Jazeera.''

Sudanese officials said Hajj would not face any charges.

The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum issued a brief statement confirming the detainee transfer with Sudan and saying it appreciated Sudan's cooperation.

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