A U.S. national security panel has approved for release from Guantanamo a long-held prisoner whose advocates argued was less of a risk at-large than the five Taliban captives sent to Qatar in exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in May.

Muhammed Zahrani, 45, got to Guantanamo in August 2002 and was until this month held as an indefinite detainee, without charge or eligible for release, a "forever prisoner." The Periodic Review Board announced Monday he was eligible for repatriation to his native Saudi Arabia, raising to 80 the number of men approved for transfer from the remote prison holding 149 detainees.

Separately, the panel upheld the indefinite detention status of Mohammed al-Shimrani, 39, who boycotted his May 5 parole hearing to protest military groin searches of captives going to and from appointments.

With these decisions, the parole board President Obama ordered set up in 2011 has looked at nine forever prisoners files and approved five for release and retained the indefinite detention status of the other four.

Zahrani persuaded the board to make him eligible for release, according to a document released by the Pentagon, because of his "candor with the board about his presence on the battlefield, expressions of regret, and desires for a peaceful life after Guantanamo."

It's not possible to know what he said because, at Zahrani's request, his remarks and written submission to the board were under seal at the parole board website.

A U.S. intelligence assessment, which was prepared in April, said Zahrani trained with al-Qaida in Afghanistan in the two years prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. It said he has "provided information of value" to U.S. intelligence but alternately "withheld details" and "possibly has exaggerated his role in and significance to Al-Qaida, to which he remains devoted."

At his parole hearing, two unidentified U.S. military officers assigned to plead his case argued that a history of misbehavior at the Pentagon prison did not mean he would be a risk to the United States, if released.

Rather, an officer argued at the hearing, according to a transcript, that his behavior was "that of an inmate, rather than that of a terrorist. Such resistance and noncompliance with correctional staff is commonplace in penal systems."