KUWAIT CITY (AP) - Two Kuwaitis released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay returned on Friday to their homeland, where their lawyer said they would face trials on terrorism-related charges.
The U.S. military said an administrative review board had recommended the two men be transferred back to Kuwait from the prison in southeastern Cuba, where the U.S. now holds about 455 men on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.
Two two men, Omar Rajab Amin, 41, and Abdullah Kamel al-Kundari, 32, who had been held at Guantanamo for four years, arrived at an airport in Kuwait early Friday, said Khaled al-Odah, who heads the Kuwaiti Family Committee, an advocacy group for men held at the prison. They were taken to a hospital for a medical examination and to meet with their families.
Both men had been held at Guantanamo since January 2002, but had not been charged with any crimes. The military said that they had ties to charities with links to terror groups and that their names had been found on the hard drive of a computer seized from a suspected al-Qaida member, according to their attorney, David Cynamon, and military documents.
Cynamon said the two men had only traveled to Afghanistan to help refugees from the country's civil war and have no connection to any terror groups.
Just pious Qur'an thumpers distributing aid and ammo. | The lawyer predicted they would be cleared by the courts in their country - as were five other Kuwaitis previously released from Guantanamo. |