A Spanish citizen held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba is expected to return home today for questioning on the activities of the al Qaeda network in the country, the interior minister said.
Spain also said it was seeking the extradition of three other detainees held at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay to help in the probe.
The United States agreed to hand over Mr Hamed Abderrahman Ahmad, from the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta, who Spanish High Court Judge Mr Baltasar Garzon wants back in Spain as part of an investigation into al-Qaeda.
"If all goes according to plan he (Mr Abderrahman) will arrive in Spain tonight and will immediately be handed over to judicial authorities in the High Court," the Interior Minister Mr Angel Acebes told a news conference after the weekly cabinet meeting.
Spanish judicial sources said Mr Abderrahman, guarded by Spanish police, had already flown out of Cuba and would land late in the evening at the Torrejon military airbase outside Madrid.
The sources said he would briefly meet Mr Garzon to be told he faced prosecution in Spain on the charge of belonging to a "terrorist" organisation.
The cabinet agreed today to ask the United States to hand over Mr Omar Deghayes, Mr Lahcen Ikassrien and Mr Jamiel Abdul Latif al Banna, all held at Guantanamo Bay.
The three men are also wanted by Mr Garzon as part of his investigation into al Qaeda's activities in Spain.
The cabinet statement did not provide their nationalities. Mr Garzon said in December Mr Ikassrien was Moroccan but did not give the nationalities of the other two suspects.