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SUBSCRIPTION THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2014 SHAABAN 7, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Amir graces HK rallies for Iran seeking No excuses: teachers’ Tiananmen new role Players helped society as Beijing 25 years after develop World ceremony3 clamps7 down Khomeini14 death Cup15 ball Kuwaiti Gitmo detainee Max 43º Min 27º faces transfer hearing High Tide 05:27 & 16:01 Kuwait has given security assurances to US on Odah Low Tide 10:42 & 23:05 40 PAGES NO: 16187 150 FILS ARLINGTON, Virginia: A Kuwaiti held at the conspiracy theories Guantanamo Bay US military prison since 2002 faced a parole-style hearing yesterday on whether he should be transferred home following Kuwait’s security assurances. Islamicity Index Although the US military contends Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Al-Odah, 37, may have fought alongside Al-Qaeda and the Taleban, his lawyer Eric Lewis told the hearing he was not a threat to the United States. Odah’s appearance before the Periodic Review Board was to re-examine By Badrya Darwish whether he should still be held without charge at the US military’s prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or be transferred to Kuwait. [email protected] Kuwait and the United States have set out commit- ments for Odah that include t was interesting to hear a debate on the radio on a rehabilitation program of at my way to work today about research done by least one year at a Kuwaiti Fawzi Al-Odah Itwo Muslim scholars in the US, Scheherazde S prison and security monitor- Rehman and Hossein Askari, both professors with ing, Lewis said in a statement he read during the hearing. PhDs at George Washington University School of “All prerequisites for his transfer to government of Kuwait Business. These two doctors have built their research are now in place,” he said. Odah wants to return to upon the criteria of the fundamental tenets of Islam Kuwait, reunite with his family, marry and enter the fami- in the social, economic and political spheres. ly plumbing supply business, he said. They created something called the Islamicity A US Defense Department profile read at the hearing Index, which ranks countries around the world said Odah probably attended extremist training camp based on how closely they adhere to basic Islamic BEIJING: Kuwaiti Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah meets Chinese President Xi Jinping and may have fought in Afghanistan. He has been at principles, laws and rules with regards to social, eco- at the Great Hall of the People yesterday. Sheikh Jaber delivered a written message to the president from Guantanamo Bay since February 2002 and has been a nomic, political and human rights. The shocking HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, extending an invitation to the president to visit leader among the prisoners, it said. results, guys... none of our Arab countries were even Kuwait. The message also dealt with bilateral relations and means to improve them. — AP Continued on Page 15 ranked within the top 50. After that, I gave up look- ing because it sounded ridiculous to me. Actually in fact, none of the Islamic countries met the criteria based on the Quran and Islam. Qatar to benefit from mediator role In fact, I did not need these two professors to tell me that. But it also reaffirmed my thoughts and the DUBAI: Qatar’s behind-the-scenes role in Qatar to an “Arab Switzerland” and thoughts of millions of other Muslims. We all believe helping secure the release of US Army doesn’t see a contradiction in it cultivat- that Islam exists in the West more than the Arab or Sgt Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for five ing relationships with both the US and Islamic world. Since I was young, many famous writ- Taleban operatives was a classic move by Islamist groups. “They’ve always tried to ers have said that Islam exists in the West. One of a tiny but natural gas-rich Gulf state with keep a foot in both camps,” he said. “It’s a them, the famous Islamic scholar Mohammad outsize ambitions that extend to hosting way of having a response to accusations Abduh, said: “I visited Western Europe and saw Islam football’s World Cup in eight years’ time. that Qatar is un-Islamic. ... It can always there but I didn’t see Muslims.” The OPEC member has shown a knack pull out of the bag that it’s one of the few What he meant was that he saw justice, democra- for keeping channels to conservative states that have a direct line to Kandahar cy, rule of law, human rights, equality, etc. Which Islamists open while it curries favor with or Kabul or wherever else.” actually are the basic pillars of Islam. Not only an array of world powers. For Qatar’s rul- Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammed Abduh said this, but many other Islamic ing Al-Thani family, it is a hedge that Mohammed Al-Attiyah described his scholars and writers who went to the West to study ensures influence and security in a country’s role in the lengthy negotiations and were surprised to find the principles of Islam, volatile part of the world. as a humanitarian gesture when asked their religion, applied and implemented - be it in In this case, Qatar was able to act as a about it at a press conference this week. economics, society, security, equality, democracy, broker because of longstanding links to He gave away few details, saying only rule of law, environment, welfare, sharing, fairness, the Taleban. The Islamist militant move- that the trust Qatar enjoys with both justice, judicial integrity, sanctity of contracts, natu- ment last year opened a representative sides helped smooth the process along. ral resource management, good governance, control office in Qatar, but effectively shut it American officials have since told AP that This screen grab shows US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl sitting in a pick-up of corruption, alms to the poor and human and civil weeks later following a dispute over its Qatari intermediaries acted as go- truck at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan before his handover to US rights for both men and women. use of the name “Islamic Emirate of betweens for months, including during forces after five years in captivity. — AFP Beautiful. But if you come and visit the Islamic Afghanistan” and of a flag flown when it the final days of negotiations that led to world, you will be shocked to find the contra of what ruled Afghanistan beginning in the the detainee swap. Islam calls for. That’s why it was easy for the enemies 1990s. It is unclear how many of the The deal that eventually emerged led Taleban video shows of Islam to brand it as a terrorist religion, of course Taleban envoys ever left Qatar - but the to the Taleban leaders’ quiet arrival in for their political gains. It was a shame to see none of foundation had been laid for ongoing Qatar as an international aviation confer- Bergdahl handover the Arab or Islamic countries ranked well in this talks. ence was getting underway following report. But at least the two professors were honest in “It’s really a continuation of Qatar’s the opening of a sleek new airport in KABUL: A dazed Bowe Bergdahl is led Saturday in exchange for five senior their report. I salute them. strategy of making itself useful to other Doha - and as the country was coming by two militants, one carrying a insurgent leaders, who had been held Imagine if these two professors were professors at powerful countries, and helping them under renewed international scrutiny makeshift white flag on a stick, to a in a US prison at Guantanamo Bay, any university in the Arab world. Let’s see how they sort out their problems,” said Christopher over its winning but controversial bid to Blackhawk helicopter in eastern Cuba, since it opened in 2002. Before would write it then and what integrity it would have. Davidson, a specialist in Gulf affairs at host the World Cup in 2022. Afghanistan ending his five years’ in his rescue, Bergdahl is seen sitting in Britain’s Durham University. He likened Continued on Page 15 captivity, a video released by the the rear seat of a 4-wheel-drive truck, Taleban showed yesterday. In the first blinking rapidly, apparently either publicly aired footage of Bergdahl’s dazed by the light or anxious about the Fingerprint dating riddle cracked dramatic handover to the US military at events unfolding around him. the weekend, the clip shows Taleban A plane and helicopters are seen cir- cadres dotted on nearby hills armed cling overhead as fighters chant “long THE HAGUE: Criminals’ days may be amino acids and proteins. “The chemi- with rocket launchers watching the live our mujahideen” and “long live the numbered after Dutch forensic experts cals in these fingerprints can be ana- transfer. The operation, from the spiritual leader”, referring to the discovered how to accurately date fin- lyzed,” said De Puit. “Some disappear gerprints, a breakthrough that could over time and it’s the relative propor- moment the helicopter touched the Taleban’s reclusive Mullah Mohammad one day let police date crime scene tions of these chemicals that allow us ground amid a cloud of dust to take- Omar. As the Blackhawk lands, two of prints from years ago. “It’s not quite the to date a fingerprint.” off, was all over in a minute. the militants approach the helicopter, Holy Grail of fingerprinting, but it’s a Previous attempts to crack the for- “Do not panic,” the militants shout as one carrying a white cloth crudely tied very important discovery,” Marcel de mula for dating fingerprints failed the Blackhawk lands in the barren val- to a stick and the other leading Puit, fingerprint researcher at the Dutch because they focused on the amounts ley deep in Khost province, close to the Bergdahl by the hand.