Kuwait has issued a group of American prisoners, including the veterans and military contractors who were imprisoned for years on drug -related charges, in a move seen as a gesture of goodwill between two allies.
The issuance of at least six American citizens follows a recent visit to the region by Adam Bouhler, the best hostile envoy in the Trump administration, and comes amid a continuous batch of the American government to bring American citizens in foreign countries.
He was accompanied by six newly liberated prisoners on a trip from Kuwait to New York by Jonathan Franks, a special advisor working on American hostages and detainees who were in the country to help secure their release.
Jonathan Franx/Aug
“My clients and their families are grateful to the Kuwaiti government for this qualitative humanitarian blame,” Franks said in a statement. He said that his client kept their innocence and that he expected other Americans to represent it by Kuwait at a later time.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for suspension. The names of the prisoners were not published immediately.
Kuwait did not recognize the issuance of the state -run -off news agency and did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the AP. The holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the upcoming Eid Al -Fitr holiday witnesses the publications of prisoners throughout the Islamic majority countries.
Kuwait, a small oil -rich nation that expands in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, is near Iran, is a major ally of the United States in the United States. Foreign Minister Marco Rubio praised this relationship recently last month, when he said that the United States “is still fixed in its support for its sovereignty in Kuwait and the welfare of its people.”
The countries had a close military partnership since America launched the Gulf War in 1991 to expel the Iraqi forces after the Iraqi dictator was then invaded Saddam Hussein, as about 1,3,500 American soldiers stationed in Kuwait in the Air Camp.
But Kuwait also detained many American military contractors on drug charges, in some years, for years. Their families claimed that their loved ones faced ill -treatment while they were imprisoned in a country that prohibits alcohol and have strict drugs related to drugs.
Others criticized the Kuwaiti police for directing the charges and manufacturing evidence against them-the allegations were not recognized by the authoritarian nation governed by a genetic prince.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns that travelers that drugs in Kuwait can carry long sentences, and even a death penalty. Defense cooperation agreements between the United States and Kuwait, which are not general, will include provisions that guarantee that American forces are only subject to American laws, although this does not likely apply to contractors.
Since President Trump returned to the White House, his republic has obtained the release of an American teacher Mark Vogel in a prisoner’s swap with Russia He announced the release of Belarus for the imprisoned American citizen.
The Americans issued on Wednesday by the US government were not appointed as a mistake. The situation is applied to the sub -section of Americans who were imprisoned abroad and historically guarantees that the case is being addressed by the Special Presidential Envoy of the Administration for Entrepreneurship – the office that undertakes negotiations for the issue.
But advocates of those who were held in foreign countries hope that the Trump administration will take a more flexible approach to securing the issuance of those who are not considered incorrectly detained.
“The sad truth is that these Americans have been left in prison for years due to a misleading policy, before President Trump took office, he has effectively abandoned Americans abroad who have not been mistakenly appointed,” Franks said in a statement.
He added: “These publications show what can be achieved when the US government gives priority to bringing down the Americans to the home.”
Last week, President Trump announced that Amer Ghaleb, the mayor of Humtramak, Michigan, will become A new American ambassador in Kuwait.
https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2025/03/13/c9efd1b7-d459-4973-80c6-c5e8858919f1/thumbnail/1200×630/dcf06f1f8dfbb5e13389547734c264c6/ap25071817896357.jpg?v=e7f44f50e1cf6b32bb81cbfeaec70acf
Source link