Guantanamo returnee gets five years

The Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling and sentenced Nasser Najar Al Mutairi, a Kuwaiti, to five years in jail.

Al Mutairi returned to Kuwait recently on a private aircraft after being freed by the United States as part of an agreement signed between the US and Kuwaiti governments.

He was arrested by US forces in Afghanistan three years ago and detained at the US camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Al Mutairi was whisked away by the State Security Police for interrogation soon after his arrival in Kuwait.

Al Mutairi, who was acquitted by the Criminal Court in June 2005, has been charged with joining a terrorist organisation and fighting the forces of a foreign country and carrying out hostile actions against another country.

Al Mutairi is also charged with receiving training to carry out illegal activities.

"I did not go to Afghanistan to fight the US forces," Al Mutairi told the the court during a previous hearing.

"The United States authorities have released the man because there was no danger from his release," his lawyer told the court.

During initial interrogation, Al Mutairi admitted to meeting a terror suspect. The man had showed Al Mutairi a plan to get to Afghanistan where he fought alongside Al Qaida and Taleban forces until he was injured and taken to a hospital.

Five detainees to be released soon

Five of the eleven Kuwaiti detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will soon be released, a reliable source told Gulf News.

"A Kuwaiti private plane with a medical and a security team on board will fly to the US base to bring the five men home," Khalid Al Ouda, Head of the Society of Guantanamo Detainees' Families, told Gulf News.

"They will be released during the Eid Al Fitr holidays," said Ouda.

He added the five men would receive a limited reception and would be interrogated by Kuwaiti authorities.

The five men are Abdul Aziz Al Shimmari, Mohammad Al Dihani, Sa'ad Al Azmi, Adel Al Zamel and Abdullah Al Ajmi.

The writer is a journalist based in Kuwait