There were initially twelve Kuwaiti detainees in Guantanamo.[1] As of January 12, 2008 four Kuwaitis remained in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[2] A total of 778 detainees have been held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba since the camps opened on January 11, 2002 The camp population peaked in 2004 at approximately 660. Only nineteen new detainees, all "high value detainees" have been transferred there since the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Rasul v. Bush. As of May 2011, 171 detainees remain at Guantanamo.[3]
The Associated Press reported that Rola Dashti, a member of a human rights delegation which met with Bush in Jerusalem, said Bush said two of the remaining four Kuwaitis would face charges before Guantanamo military commissions.[4] According to Dashti[5]:
He (Bush) said two (Kuwaitis) will be charged and he will work toward releasing the other two if there aren't any accusations against them.
According to Khaled al-Odah, one of the remaining men's father, the remaining men are[4]: Fawzi al Odah, Fouad al Rabia, Khaled al Mutairi, and Faiz al Kandari.
On March 30, 2008 Arab Times reports that the USA has agreed to return two of the remaining four detainees.[6] Kuwaiti security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the remaining two detainees were expected to be charged before Guantanamo military commissions. http://www.arabtimesonline.com/client/pagesdetails.asp?nid=15930&ccid=9
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In February, Federal Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly Colleen Kollar-Kotelly “lashed out” at government prosecutors for “repeated delays” in the case of the four Kuwaitis detained at Guantanamo Bay. The Judge ordered one government lawyer removed from the case for failing to comply with repeated orders to produce requested declassified evidence, explaining in a court document his “compliance was not optional.” She continued in document, that the court "has serious concern about counsel's ability to read and comprehend its orders."[7]
According to Agence France-Presse Agence France Presse, “The rare public row between the judge and prosecutors reflects frustrations over delays to appeals by Guantanamo prisoners in federal courts.”[8]
On June 9, 2009, the lead attorney for the Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo, David Cynamon, called on Congress to delay the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor until the Obama administration’s commitment to the rule of law and compliance with Supreme Court decisions is examined.
In the letter [5], Cynamon asks Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to first schedule a Judiciary Committee hearing on the Obama Administration’s failure to comply with Boumediene v. Bush.
“The Bush Administration Department of Justice did everything in its power to delay and obstruct the habeas cases from proceeding in federal court. This was disappointing but not surprising,” Cynamon wrote in the letter. “What has been surprising is that the Obama Justice Department has maintained the same policy of delay and obstruction.”
Two of the four Kuwaiti detainees are expected to be handed over to Kuwaiti authorities after negotiations, Major Barry Wingard [6], Fayiz Al-Kandari’s military attorney, said at a press conference in Kuwait on June 9, 2009.[9]
While the administration maintains that two other Kuwaiti detainees, Fayiz Mohammed Ahmed Al-Kandari and Fouad Mahmoud Al-Rabiah, will face charges, Major Wingard said there is a lack of evidence in Fayiz’s case. There is “not enough proof to try him [Fayiz]” in a U.S. federal court, Wingard said.
In April 2009, the United States promised to review the cases of the four Kuwaiti Guantanamo detainees after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Kuwait and met with the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[10]
"Clinton promised that Washington would rapidly and seriously review the files of the four Kuwaiti prisoners and notify Kuwait in this regard as soon as possible," the Kuwait News Agency reported, citing a statement by Kuwait's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[11]
In March 2008, attorneys for Fawzi al-Odah and three other Kuwaiti detainees held at Guantanamo Bay filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Court of Military Commission seeking to block military prosecutors from contacting the four detainees without their attorneys’ consent. The attorneys’ petition for a writ of mandamus – or other appropriate order – was due to concerns that military prosecutors had violated, or intended to violate, military and professional rules of legal conduct.
Matthew MacLean, a Washington-based attorney for the Kuwaitis, explained in an interview with the Associated Press that government interrogators told his clients their lawyers are Jewish in a bid to sow mistrust. "Are these prosecutors bound by the rules that are binding on all prosecutors everywhere?" MacLean said. "Or are these prosecutors going to be allowed to be cowboys, doing whatever they want?"[12]
On June 12, 2008 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Boumediene v. Bush, that the Military Commissions Act could not remove the right for Guantanamo detainees to access the US Federal Court system. And all previous Guantanamo detainees' habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated.
On July 18, 2008 David J. Cynamon filed a "PETITIONERS’ STATUS REPORT" in Al Odah, v. United States Civil Action No. CV 02-0828 (CKK) on behalf of Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Fahad Al Odah, Fayiz Mohammed Ahmen Al Kandari, Khalid Abdullah Mishal Al Mutairi, Fouad Mahmoud Al Rabiah.[13] He wrote that they were the four remaining Kuwaiti detainees in Guantanamo. He wrote that none of the four men had been cleared for release. He wrote that the government had completed "factual returns" for all four men—but those factual returns had contained redacted sections.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that Guantanamo detainees were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed.
| isn | name | status | repatriated | notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65 | Omar Rajab Amin |
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2006-09-06 |
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| 205 | Nasser Najiri Amtiri |
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2005-01-16 |
|
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| 213 | Khalid Abdullah Mishal al Mutairi |
|
2009-10-09 |
|
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| 217 | Abd Al Aziz Sayer Uwain Al Shammeri |
|
2005-11-02 |
|
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| 220 | Abdallah Saleh Ali Al Ajmi |
|
2005-11-02 | ||
| 228 | Abdullah Kamel Abudallah Kamel |
|
2005-11-02 | ||
| 229 | Mohammed Fenaitel Mohamed Al Daihani |
|
2005-11-02 | ||
| 232 | Fouzi Khalid Abdullah al Awda |
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| 551 | Fouad Mahmoud al Rabiah |
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| 552 | Faiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari |
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| 568 | Adel Zamel Abd Al Mahsen Al Zamel |
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2005-11-02 |
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| 571 | Sa ad Madhi Sa ad Howash Al Azmi |
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2005-11-02 |
1. Major Issues to be Discussed Premier’s US Visit Timely,"[7], Kuwait Times, September 15, 2008.
2. William Glaberson, "Despite Ruling, Detainee Cases Facing Delays,"[8], New York Times, October 4, 2008.
3. "2 Kuwaitis at Guantanamo Bay Charged with War Crimes"[9], USA Today, October 22, 2008.
4. "Obama’s Election Bodes Changes for Guantanamo Prisoners,"[10], Agence France-Presse, November 16, 2008.
5. "Court orders new review on torture, allows tobacco lawsuits"[11], SCOTUS Blog, December 15, 2008.
6. Ben Garcia, "Gitmo Detainees’ Fate Undecided,"[12], Kuwait Times, January 27, 2009.
7. David Cynamon, "A Glossy View of Guantanamo Bay"[13], Washington Post, March 22, 2009.
8. Zachary Roth, "Not Just State Secrets"[14], Talking Points Memo, April 10, 2009.
9. "U.S. Judge Lambasts Government Guantanamo Lawyers"[15], Agence France-Presse, April 8, 2009.
8. Josh Gerstein, "Judge Riles at DOJ in Gitmo Case"[16], Politico, April 6, 2009.
1. Kuwaiti Family Committee: [17]
2. Amnesty International: [18]
3. Human Rights Watch: [19]
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