{"id":64337,"date":"2025-05-01T00:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T00:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/64337\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T00:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T00:57:09","slug":"kuwait-frees-10-more-americans-in-second-release-in-as-many-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/64337\/","title":{"rendered":"Kuwait frees 10 more Americans in second release in as many months"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Kuwait has released an additional 10 American detainees, bringing to nearly two dozen the total number<\/a> freed by the country in the past two months, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Taken together, Kuwait\u2019s pardons of 23 Americans since March \u2014 done as a goodwill gesture by the U.S. ally \u2014 amounted to the largest release of U.S. citizens by a single foreign country in years.<\/p>\n

The prisoners, both men and women, include military contractors and veterans held on drug charges and other offenses by the small, oil-rich nation, including one who was said by supporters to have been coerced into signing a false confession and endured physical violence and threats against his wife and daughter.<\/p>\n

Ten others were released in March, weeks after a visit to Kuwait by Adam Boehler<\/a>, who is serving as the Trump administration\u2019s envoy for hostage affairs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The seal of the State Department is seen at the Washington Passport Agency, July 12, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon, File)<\/p>\n

The seal of the State Department is seen at the Washington Passport Agency, July 12, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon, File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

\u201cWe flew out, we sat down with the Kuwaitis, and they said, \u2018Listen, no one\u2019s ever asked before at this level\u201d for the release of the Americans, Boehler told the AP. <\/p>\n

The releases were not done as part of a swap and the U.S. was not asked to give up anything in return.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been extremely responsive, and their view is the United States is a huge ally. They know it\u2019s a priority for (President Donald Trump) to bring Americans home,\u201d Boehler said. \u201cI credit it to the Kuwaiti understanding that we\u2019ve stood up for them historically and they know that these things are important for the president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuwait<\/a> is considered a major non-NATO ally of the U.S. The U.S. and Kuwait have had a close military partnership since America launched the 1991 Gulf War to expel Iraqi troops after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein<\/a> invaded Kuwait, with some 13,500 American troops stationed in Kuwait at Camp Arifjan and Ali al-Salem Air Base.<\/p>\n

But the country also has detained many American military contractors on drug charges, in some cases for years. Their families have alleged that their loved ones faced abuse while imprisoned in a country that bans alcohol and has strict laws regarding drugs. Others have criticized Kuwaiti police for bringing trumped-up charges and manufacturing evidence used against them \u2014 allegations never acknowledged by the autocratic nation ruled by a hereditary emir.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Kuwaiti embassy in Washington didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The Americans freed Wednesday \u201cmaintain their innocence, and it\u2019s important to note none of these cases had an identified victim, and all of them were built on supposed confessions taken in Arabic without translation,\u201d according to a statement from Jonathan Franks, a private consultant working on cases involving American hostages and detainees who represented nine of the 10 people released. He spent weeks in the country trying to negotiate the releases.<\/p>\n

He credited the Trump administration for looking \u201cfor reasons to bring Americans home\u201d even when they are not designated by the U.S. government has having been wrongfully detained. He said \u201cthese Americans, mostly veterans, lost years with their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those freed Wednesday was Tony Holden, an HVAC technician and career defense contractor. He was working in support of Camp Arifjan at the time of his November 2022 arrest, when his family and supporters allege he was \u201cset up by corrupt Kuwaiti police looking to earn bonuses.\u201d <\/p>\n

His supporters say his wife and daughter were physically threatened, that he was coerced into signing a written confession in Arabic and that his drug possession charge and sentence came in spite of him testing negative in a drug test and abstaining for religious reasons from drug and alcohol use.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful to see Tony Holden released today,\u201d said Stacia George, chief engagement officer of Global Reach, a nonprofit organization that has advocated for Holden\u2019s release. \u201cTony is an innocent man who was held unjustly for 902 days and this gives him the ability to come home to his family and restart his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio: \u201cWe celebrate his release and return to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

A minor is also being released in the coming days but is expected to remain in Kuwait, a U.S. official said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Kuwait has released an additional 10 American detainees, bringing to nearly two dozen the total…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[33034,33037,32,14615,4179,33041,33040,6856,33038,33036,2820,285,33039,33042,33035,49,5213,978,659,10673,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-64337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-adam-boehler","9":"tag-ali-al-salem-air-base","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-drug-crimes","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-hostage-situations","14":"tag-jonathan-franks","15":"tag-kuwait","16":"tag-kuwait-government","17":"tag-law-and-order","18":"tag-marco-rubio","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-saddam-hussein","21":"tag-stacia-george","22":"tag-tony-holden","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-government","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa","27":"tag-washington-news","28":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114429863189062484","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}