Kuwaiti Family Committee
Encyclopedia
The Kuwaiti Family Committee is an organization that was formed in 2004 by relatives of the Kuwait
i detainees in Guantanamo Bay
. The Committee advocates for due process for the detainees.
Khalid al-Odah
is the founder of the Kuwaiti Family Committee. His son, Fawzi al-Odah has been detained without charge since 2001.
/Pakistan
border region in 2001 when they were captured by Pakistani bounty hunters. The Pakistanis then turned the prisoners over to the Americans who transferred them to Guantanamo Bay.
i citizens being held in the prison. Six Kuwaitis were released in November 2005 and two more were repatriated to Kuwait in September 2006. At the time, attorney David Cynamon cited diplomacy between the Kuwaiti and US governments as key to securing the release of these prisoners.
& Al-Odah v. United States, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
, and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
.
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
i detainees in Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
. The Committee advocates for due process for the detainees.
Khalid al-Odah
Khalid al-Odah
Khalid al-Odah is the father of Guantanamo Bay detainee, Fawzi al-Odah, and the founder of the Kuwaiti Family Committee, a group established in 2004 to heighten global awareness of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Over the past five years, Khalid has waged legal, media, and public relations...
is the founder of the Kuwaiti Family Committee. His son, Fawzi al-Odah has been detained without charge since 2001.
Capture
The Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo Bay maintain that they were doing charitable work in the AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
/Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
border region in 2001 when they were captured by Pakistani bounty hunters. The Pakistanis then turned the prisoners over to the Americans who transferred them to Guantanamo Bay.
Kuwaitis in Guantanamo Bay
When Guantanamo Bay first opened in January 2002, there were twelve KuwaitKuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
i citizens being held in the prison. Six Kuwaitis were released in November 2005 and two more were repatriated to Kuwait in September 2006. At the time, attorney David Cynamon cited diplomacy between the Kuwaiti and US governments as key to securing the release of these prisoners.
Prisoners Deserve a Fair Trial
The Kuwaiti Family Committee maintains that the U.S. Constitution guarantees all individuals a fair trial and that the US Supreme Court has affirmed that guarantee in three separate decisions: Rasul v. BushRasul v. Bush
Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision establishing that the U.S. court system has the authority to decide whether foreign nationals held in Guantanamo Bay were wrongfully imprisoned...
& Al-Odah v. United States, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 was a U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing the dismissal of a habeas corpus petition brought on behalf of Yaser Esam Hamdi, a U.S. citizen being detained indefinitely as an "illegal enemy combatant." The Court recognized the power of the government to detain enemy...
, and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 , is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay lack "the power to proceed because its structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military...
.
External links
- Put My Son on Trial -- Or Free Him Op-ed by Khalid in The Washington Post
- Prisoner's father hopes courts find, fix 'big mistake' Article about Khalid in USA Today