RIYADH: A Saudi driver, who was languishing in Iraqi prisons for the past three years, reached Dammam safely following his release in Bagdad on Wednesday.

Naif bin Ghazi Al-Harbi, 76, who is a trailer driver, had crossed the Iraqi border via Jordan without the proper documents, according to a local daily.

On release, his son Ghazi Al-Harbi had sent an air ticket for his father to return to his home city of Dammam. His flight was from Baghdad to Dammam via Dubai. The son said that during his stay in jail, his father was moved from prison to prison during the three-year period.

Prior to his arrest at the Iraq border, Al-Harbi was the owner of his trailer, who contracted with a UAE company to transport goods from the Kingdom to Iraq via Jordan.

The son, who was very happy to receive his father at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, said in a statement to the press that his father was detained in Iraq without any specific charges for a long period of three years.

An Iraqi security committee recently stated that there were 71 Saudis held in prisons across the country including the Susa jail in Sulaimaniya and the Badush prison in Mosul, before the Islamic State group took control of the city last summer. In addition, others are being held in two prisons in Baghdad and Nasiriyah in southern Iraq.

Among the 71 prisoners, 15 are facing trial, 24 were tried before the courts, with 20 convicted and one executed.

The Ministry of Interior recently revealed that 2,248 Saudis have left the Kingdom to fight in conflict zones, with only 654 returning home.