Kuwait released a group of US prisoners, including veterans and military contractors who have been imprisoned for many years on drug -related charges, which is considered a gesture of good will between two allies, a representative of the Associated Press said on Wednesday.
The release stems from the recent visit to the region of Adam Bolera, the chief envoy of the Trump administration, and goes amid a long US government to bring US citizens in prison in foreign countries.
Six recently released prisoners were accompanied by Kuwait's flight to New York Jonatan Frank, a private consultant who works on American hostages and detainees who were in the country to help their release.
Jonathan Franks/AP
“My customers and their families are grateful to the Kuwait government for such a humanitarian gesture,” Franks said in a statement. He said his clients supported his innocence and that the other Americans he represented would come out later.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a comment request. The names of the released prisoners were not immediately announced.
Kuwait did not recognize the release at his state agency Kuna and did not immediately respond to a request for a comment AP. The moon of the Holy Muslim fasting Ramadan and his upcoming holiday of the ID al-Fitro, as a rule, see that the prisoners in the Muslim majority countries.
Kuwait, a small, rich oil nation bordering Iraq and Saudi Arabia and is near Iran, is considered the main ally of the United States. Secretary of State Mark Rubio paid trial recently, as last month, when he said that the United States “remain unwavering in support of the sovereignty of Kuwait and the well -being of his people.”
In the countries there were close military partnerships since America started a war in the Persian Gulf of 1991 to expel Iraqi troops after the then dictator Irachy Saddam Hussein broke into the country, about 13,500 US troops located in Kuwait in the BAZA BAZ.
But Kuwait also detained many US military contractors on drug charges, in some cases. Their families claim that their loved ones have faced cruelty while in prison in a country that prohibits alcohol and has strict laws on drugs.
Others criticized the Kuwait police for fabricating the allegations and production evidence used against their accusations have never recognized the autocratic nation, which is governed by the Heritical Emir.
The State Department warns travelers that charges drugs in Kuwait can make long prison terms and even the death penalty. It is estimated that the cooperation between the US and Kuwait Cooperation, which are not public, probably include provisions that guarantee that US troops are only subject to US laws, although it probably does not apply to contractors.
Ever since President Trump returned to the White House, his republican administration has provided the release of the American school teacher Mark vogel in prison replacement with Russia And he announced the release of Belarus from a prisoner of the US citizen.
The Americans issued on Wednesday were not appointed by the US government as illegally detained. The status is applied to the subdivision of the Americans who are in prison abroad and historically guarantees that the case is being considered by a special presidential envoy of the hostage administration – an office involved in the release.
But supporters of those conducted in foreign countries hope that Trump administration takes a more flexible approach to ensure the release of those who are not considered incorrectly detained.
“The sad reality is that these Americans have been imprisoned for years because of the wrong policy, which, before President Trump, has effectively abandoned Americans abroad who were not appointed incorrectly detained,” Franks said in a statement.
“These issues,” he added, “demonstrate what is achieved when the US government is pricing, bringing Americans home.”
Last week, President Trump announced that Amer Galib, Mayor Hamtrak, Michigan, will become New US Ambassador to Kuwait.