|
Latest News
Have your say
Back to index
|
Kuwait court acquits five former Gitmo prisoners
22-05-2006
KUWAIT, Kuwait Times: A criminal court yesterday acquitted five Kuwaitis freed from US custody in Guantanamo, clearing them of charges that they collected money for Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.
The five were freed from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in November but were arrested upon their return home to Kuwait on suspicion they belonged to Al-Qaeda. But on Sunday, a court found all five-Abdullah Saleh Al-Ajmi, Abdul-Aziz Al-Shimmiri, Adel Zamel Abdul-Mohsen, Saad Madhi Al-Azmi and Mohammed Fnaitil Al-Dehani -- innocent of all charges, according to a ruling posted by a clerk.
It was not clear if the prosecution will appeal. A detailed ruling with court explanations was to be made public in a week to 10 days.
The defendants pleaded innocent when the trial opened in March. Their lawyers argued that there was no evidence to convict them and that Kuwaiti courts had no jurisdiction to try them because they had not done anything illegal in Kuwait.
Defence attorneys also told the tribunal that testimonies collected at Guantanamo Bay and provided by the United States could not be used in a Kuwaiti court because they did not have the signatures of the detainees or interrogators.
The defendants were also accused of fighting alongside Afghanistan's ousted Taleban regime that hosted the terror group.
The prosecution alleged that the men endangered their country's "political standing" and its ties with friendly nations.
After the September 2001 terror attacks in the United States, Washington gave its support to Northern Alliance Forces in Afghanistan, which overthrew the Taleban regime. A Kuwaiti ex-Guantanamo prisoner who returned in January 2005 was initially acquitted of terror-related charges, but an appeals tribunal overturned the acquittal and sentenced him to five years in prison.
Six Kuwaiti citizens are still held in Guantanamo.
Khaled Al-Odah, who heads a private group that campaigns for the release of Kuwaiti prisoners in Guantanamo, said he was "proud of Kuwaiti justice." He lamented that "our sons have lost four years of their lives for no good reason." He called on the American government to release the rest of the Kuwaiti detainees, including his son Fawzi.
Kuwait has been a major US ally since the Washington-led 1991 Gulf War that liberated it from Iraqi occupation. However, some religious extremists oppose the American military presence in the country. --- AP
Email this story to a friend | Printable Version
|
Latest News
Other News from Campaign on Terror section
|
