LONDON -- A British resident released from the U.S. prison camps at Guantánamo Bay was reunited with his family for the first time in five years Thursday after a judge rejected a Spanish request to jail him.

Jamil el Banna, 45, a Palestinian-Jordanian, met wife Sabah and was heading to see his five children for the first time since 2002, when he was arrested in Africa and handed to U.S. authorities.

Banna was among three British residents who flew back from the remote U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba late Wednesday under a deal struck between London and Washington. All three were held without charge or trial at Guantánamo for more than four years.

[The Pentagon confirmed the transfer Thursday morning, saying the Guantánamo detainee census was reduced to ``approximately 285.'']

In London, El-Banna was arrested hours after returning from Cuba and appeared in a London court Thursday after Spanish police demanded his extradition on charges of belonging to an al Qaeda terrorist cell.

Another of the three, Libyan-born Omar Deghayes, 38, was also arrested at the request of Spain and released on bail Thursday. The third man, Abdennour Sameur, 34, of Algeria, had been released earlier without charge.

With a long, matted gray beard and haggard expression, Banna spoke through a translator as he refused to go to Spain voluntarily. A judge rejected a request for his detention and he was bailed out to appear at an extradition hearing set for Jan. 9.

''I want to go to home and see my children,'' Banna told reporters as he left the court and climbed into a waiting taxi with his wife. British Broadcasting Corp. TV video later showed him greeting his family outside his home, hugging and kissing his infant daughter.

Spanish authorities accuse Banna of being an overseas member of the Madrid-based Islamic Alliance, an al Qaeda cell, which sent volunteers to fight in Afghanistan, according to prosecutor Melanie Cumberland.

Cumberland said the Madrid cell was led by Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, who is serving a 12-year jail term in Spain on terrorism charges. Banna was allegedly a member between 1996 and 2001.

Banna's defense lawyer, Ed Fitzgerald, said he would fight the extradition.

''U.S. authorities, after extensive interrogation and intensive investigation, have concluded he provided no risk to the U.S. or to its allies,'' he said. Britain's secret intelligence service, MI6, had also decided Banna was no threat, Fitzgerald added.

Deghayes' brother, Taher, said it is another delay to a long-awaited reunion. ''It's a little bit of torture for us,'' he said.

According to documents released in Guantánamo during several hearings in his detention, a British MI5 intelligence officer visited Banna at his home near London in October 2002 in an attempt to get him to become a paid informant.

British intelligence agents were interested in boosting their informant network after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Banna repaired cars for sale at auction and performed faith healings while raising his family.

Abu Qatada, a Muslim cleric described by a Spanish judge as Osama bin Laden's ''spiritual ambassador in Europe,'' was a neighbor of Banna in Pakistan, when Banna worked in the early 1990s for a Saudi charity helping Afghan refugees.

In Jordan, Banna belonged to a Palestinian support group linked to Iran and Syria. He was also among hundreds of Muslims who regularly attended sermons in Abu Qatada's London-area mosque.

Banna's friend Bisher al Rawi, an Iraqi living in Britain, was helping MI5 keep tabs on London's Muslim community.

At the time, Abu Qatada was in hiding to avoid arrest under Britain's anti-terrorism laws, and Rawi relayed messages between MI5 and the cleric.

Banna, meanwhile, sometimes drove Abu Qatada's wife and children to the imam's hideout as a favor to Rawi, Banna's lawyers said.

Rawi also recruited Banna on the trip that ended with their arrest in Africa. Banna planned to manage a Gambian peanut oil plant, and the MI5 officer assured him he could travel.

But Banna and Rawi were detained at Gatwick Airport the next day. According to an MI5 memo written that day -- Nov. 1, 2002 -- ''some form of homemade electronic device'' found in Rawi's bag could have been used in a car bomb. It was later discovered to be a battery charger.

Rawi was released from Guantánamo in April.

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon called for the indictment of Banna and Deghayes in 2003.

All three returned detainees were held without charge or trial at Guantánamo for more than four years.

The U.S. refused to release two other British residents, Saudi-born Shaker Aamer and Ethiopian national Binyam Mohamed.

Five British citizens were freed from Guantánamo in March 2004 and four in January 2005 -- two of whom attended Thursday's court hearing to offer support.

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