Guantanamo inmate freed after 14 years

Washington: The Pentagon announced the repatriation of a Guantanamo Bay inmate to Kuwait on Friday, leaving 104 inmates at the US naval prison in Cuba.

 

A US intelligence review found that the detention of Faez Mohammad Ahmad Al-Kandari "does not remain necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States," the Pentagon said in a statement. 

 

He will be transferred to the Kuwaiti government, it said. 

 

After a medical examination at a military hospital, he will be remanded to a comprehensive rehabilitation programme put in place by the Government of Kuwait to assist Al Kandari to reintegrate into Kuwaiti society after more than 14 years in detention.  

 

Al Kandari was cleared for release after a Periodic Review Board hearing held at Guantanamo last July.  

 

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter provided notice to Congress in December that Al Kandari's release was consistent with the security interests of the United States.  

 

Al Kandari is the last of 12 Kuwaitis at Guantanamo. The Government of Kuwait has been actively seeking the release of Kuwaiti nationals for more than 13 years.

"Mr. Al Kandari is delighted to be going home and reuniting with his beloved parents and family after all these years away," said his lawyer, Eric Lewis of Lewis Baach PLLC.  

 

"We are grateful to the Government of Kuwait for its dedication and commitment to bringing its citizens home, to the Kuwaiti Family Committee, headed by Khalid Al Odah, and to Abdul Rahman Al Haroun of International Counsel Bureau for their ceaseless efforts to bring home these men. Mr. Al Kandari was never charged with any crime.  He goes home with optimism and looks forward to resuming a peaceful life and to putting Guantanamo behind him."