Kuwait City ? Five Kuwaitis who had been held in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay prison camp, including one who had been on a three-month hunger strike, returned home early today.

Khaled al-Odah, who leads a private group that rallies for the release or trial of Kuwaiti prisoners at Guantanamo, said the men would be taken first to the hospital for medical check-ups before meeting with officials for questioning.

Abdul-Aziz al-Shimmiri, 32, has been on a hunger strike since Aug. 9 and was being force-fed at the Guantanamo hospital. Before the men left Cuba, al-Odah said al-Shimmiri would not stop his strike until he boarded the Kuwaiti plane.

The five were recommended for the transfer by an administrative review board.

They could face criminal proceedings in Kuwait, but prefer that to remaining at Guantanamo without being charged or tried, the lead attorney, Tom Wilner, said in the United States.

Their arrival raised the number of Kuwaitis freed from the detention facility to six. Another six are still held at Guantanamo.

U.S. forces arrested the Kuwaitis in Afghanistan or neighboring Pakistan during the 2001 war on terror in that country following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.