( CNN ) -- Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj arrived home in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum early Friday after nearly six years in the U.S. Navy prison camp at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj at a hospital in Khartoum after his release from Guantanamo Bay . `` I was so happy that I cried , '' al-Hajj told the Qatar-based Arabic news network by phone from his hospital room , where he was taken after arriving at the airport . `` It is our right to be happy and to rejoice , but we also miss our brothers that we left behind and who live in very difficult conditions . '' An official with the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum said the transfer brought to an end a matter that the United States and Sudan considered to be `` of great mutual concern . '' Al-Hajj , a Sudanese citizen in his late 30s , was captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 by Pakistani intelligence officers and handed over to the United States , which accused him of being an `` enemy combatant . '' A senior Pentagon official confirmed the journalist 's release . Al-Hajj was held without being charged or given a trial , Al-Jazeera reported . The cameraman was on a legitimate assignment and carried a work visa at the time of his capture , the network said . It also reported that the U.S. plane that carried al-Hajj had about 20 other former detainees aboard who also had been released from Guantanamo Bay . The plane dropped off a Moroccan national , identified as Al-Saeed Bou Jaadiya , the network said . Al-Jazeera aired video showing a bearded al-Hajj being carried from the plane in Khartoum by U.S. military personnel and laid on a stretcher . He was transported to Al-Amal Hospital . `` He was brought in here by ambulance and entered to the intensive care unit on a stretcher , '' said Al-Jazeera Director General Wadah Khanfar from the hospital . `` He was exhausted and very sick , and he 's receiving the necessary care in the hospital . '' Khanfar said he was awaiting word from doctors on his medical condition . In a statement , U.S . Charge D'Affaires Alberto Fernandez of the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum said the transfer `` is a result of many factors and the work of many hands . An important one was the cooperation between the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum and the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Intelligence and Security Service . '' Al-Hajj had been on a hunger strike for more than a year and was being force-fed , said Zachary Katznelson , a lawyer who has worked on al-Hajj 's case since August 2005 and last visited him three weeks ago . `` Al-Hajj is remarkably thin , '' Katznelson said . `` He looks like an ill man . '' The journalist was conscious , but did not appear to speak to anyone as paramedics rolled his stretcher inside . Family members stooped to kiss him as the gurney passed . `` I would have hoped they were here with me now . I look forward to the moment , '' al-Hajj said told Al-Jazeera before being reunited with his family . Earlier , al-Hajj 's wife spoke to the network about his release . `` Now I can think differently , '' Asma Ismailov said . `` Now I can plan my life differently . Everything will be all right , God willing . '' Al-Hajj 's young son , Mohammed , said he would `` kiss his head '' when he sees his father . `` I 'll tell him that I love him and I need him . '' The Sudanese government told Al-Jazeera that al-Hajj faced no charges in Sudan and is a free man . The network also said the United States placed some conditions on al-Hajj 's release , including one that prevents him from any political activity . Reporters Without Borders , which campaigned for al-Hajj 's release , said in a statement that the cameraman `` never should have been held so long . '' `` U.S. authorities never proved that he had been involved in any kind of criminal activity , '' the worldwide press freedom group said . The organization said al-Hajj was accused of gun-smuggling for al Qaeda and running an Islamist Web site , although no evidence supporting those charges was produced . `` We are delighted that Sami al-Hajj can finally be reunited with his family and friends , '' said Joel Simon , executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists . `` But his detention for six years , without the most basic due process , is a grave injustice and represents a threat to all journalists working in conflict areas . '' E-mail to a friend .
Al-Hajj arrives home in Afghanistan and is taken to hospital , network says . Pakistani intelligence officers captured him in Afghanistan in December 2001 . Sami al-Hajj was transferred to Sudan custody and held without charges or trial . the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said he was on an assignment when he was apprehended .