A Boston man being held in North Korea since January for crossing into that country illegally was freed yesterday at the behest of former President Jimmy Carter, and is expected to arrive back in Boston today.

“I thanked God first,’’ said Jacqueline McCarthy of Mattapan, the mother of 31-year-old Aijalon Mahli Gomes, in a phone interview late last night with the Boston Globe.

The Carter Center, the former president’s Atlanta-based foundation, said in a statement that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il released Gomes at Carter’s request on humanitarian grounds.

It was not known if Carter met with Kim on his just-concluded trip to Pyongyang, or whether a meeting was made impossible by the North Korean leader’s own trip to China.

The Carter Center said Gomes would arrive at Logan International Airport early this afternoon.


Read the entire story at boston.com