Last Kuwaiti Detainee at Gitmo Repatriated
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SUBSCRIPTION SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2016 RABI ALAWWAL 29, 1437 AH No: 16750 Education Ministry Obama mocks Kings hold off regulates private ‘conspiracy’ at gun Bryant’s Lakers, school fee3 hikes control forum7 Bulls48 top Celts Last Kuwaiti detainee at Gitmo repatriated Min 12º 150 Fils Fayez Al-Kandari ‘delighted’ to return home Max 22º WASHINGTON: The last Kuwaiti Guantanamo Bay inmate has been transferred from the US military prison back to Kuwait, the Pentagon announced yesterday, bringing the prison’s remaining population down to 104. “The Department of Defense announced today the repatriation of Fayez Mohammed Ahmed Al-Kandari from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the government of the state of Kuwait,” the Pentagon said in a statement. The US military and intelligence agencies had “determined continued law of war detention of Al-Kandari does not remain necessary,” and that Kandari was no longer considered a signifi- cant threat to US security. Kandari’s lawyer, Eric Lewis of the Washington firm Lewis Baach PLLC, said Kandari was transferred yesterday to Kuwait, where he will undergo a medical examina- tion and be put into a rehabilitation program to help him reinte- grate into society. “Mr Al-Kandari is delighted to be going home and reuniting with his beloved parents and family after all these years away,” Lewis said. Kuwait’s Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al- Jaber Al-Sabah said a Kuwaiti security team received Kandari, who is on the way home. In a statement to KUNA, Sheikh Salem congratulated HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah, the Kuwaiti people and Kandari’s family on his release. He added that the decision to set Kandari free embodied the elevat- ed directives by the Amir, and his keenness during contacts with former US president George W Bush and current President GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba: This April 9, 2014 file photo shows razor wire- Barack Obama, on closing that file. topped fence and a watchtower at the abandoned “Camp X-Ray” detention The release was also the outcome of instructions and unremit- facility at this US naval station and prison. Fayez Al-Kandari, (inset) the last ting follow-up by First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Kuwaiti Guantanamo Bay inmate, was transferred from the controversial US Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, he added. In military prison back to Kuwait yesterday. — AFP addition, Ambassador Sheikh Salem “proudly” recalled the role and non-stop efforts by the committee of the families of Kuwaiti detainees in Guantanamo over the past years. Kandari’s release is a positive progress in bilateral relations, marking the end of a sen- Aramco studying share offer sitive issue that has always topped priorities of the Kuwaiti gov- ernment in contacts with the US, he stressed. “It is the end of a RIYADH: State-owned Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest crude oil The kingdom, which is fighting a costly war against rebels in 13-year period which witnessed hard and constant contacts to producer, said yesterday it is considering a share offer as part of eco- Yemen, is confronted by unusual economic challenges caused by bring the file to an end.” nomic reforms by the kingdom hit by a record budget deficit. The plunging global oil prices. Last week, it reported a record deficit of $98 Moreover, the move reflects real assessment of Kuwait’s role announcement comes after oil prices plummeted to 12-year lows on billion for 2015. And it projected a shortfall of $87 billion this year, in countering terrorism, and the serious steps the country has world markets because of a global supply glut, increasing strains on with crude prices currently around $34 a barrel, down from more than taken in cooperation with the international community in this Saudi Arabia’s public finances. The company “has been studying vari- $100 early in 2014. In an unprecedented departure from its decades- regard, Sheikh Salem said. Kandari was the last of 12 Kuwaitis ous options to allow broad public participation in its equity”, a state- old generous welfare system, Riyadh’s budget last week announced who had been imprisoned at Guantanamo. The Kuwaiti govern- ment said. rises in fuel, electricity, water and other prices. ment supported the release of its citizens, who unlike a majority This would be through the listing on capital markets “of an appro- In his interview, Mohammed said a share offer “is something that of those held at Guantanamo, had high-profile Washington priate percentage of the company’s shares and/or the listing of a bun- is being reviewed, and we believe a decision will be made over the lawyers and public relations firms working to secure their free- dle (of) its downstream subsidiaries,” it said. “This proposal is consis- next few months”. The thirty-something prince said he was personally dom. That effort suffered a setback in 2008 when one of the tent with the broad and progressive direction pursued by the king- enthusiastic about the step, which would be in the interests of the released prisoners carried out a suicide car bombing in Iraq tar- dom for reforms, including privatisation in various sectors of the Saudi market, the company and greater transparency. Mohammed, the son geting Iraqi security forces in the northern city of Mosul. economy and deregulation of markets, which the company strongly of King Salman, is also defense minister and heads the kingdom’s A profile of Kandari released by the Pentagon last year identi- supports,” it added. main economic coordinating council. fied Kandari as an Al-Qaeda recruiter and propagandist. It said he The statement comes a day after The Economist published an The dive in oil prices is largely due to Saudi Arabia’s own policies also “probably” served as Osama bin Laden’s spiritual adviser. He interview with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin and those of other members of the Organization of the Petroleum denied committing any terrorist acts or having any extremist Salman who said a share offer was under review. A public listing Exporting Countries (OPEC). They refuse to cut crude production as affiliations and was never charged. According to his leaked prison by Saudi Aramco would make it the first major state-owned oil they seek to drive less-competitive players, including US shale pro- file, published by the New York Times, 40-year-old Kandari was a firm in the Gulf to be floated on markets. Saudi Aramco said that, ducers, out of the market. Analysts expected the kingdom would “committed member” of Al-Qaeda and was an influential reli- after studying the options, the findings will be presented to the make only a small stake available to the public. Abhishek Deshpande, gious figure for the group’s fighters in Afghanistan. He was initial- board of directors, which will make recommendations to the an analyst at Natixis, said talk of an IPO shows the kingdom’s determi- ly captured in Dec 2001, and sent to Guantanamo in May the fol- company’s Supreme Council. The council is chaired by Prince nation to address the economic consequences of low oil prices. “It lowing year, where inmates are kept without recourse to regular Mohammed and has overseen Saudi Aramco since it was separat- could be a very big step forward and also means oil prices will stay US legal processes and some likely will die in prison without ever ed from the oil ministry last year. low for a while,” Deshpande said. — AFP being convicted of a crime. — Agencies LOCAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2016 Ghanem: AIPU affirms support to Saudi Arabia CAIRO: President of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU) and Kuwait parliament speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem affirmed AIPU’s support to Saudi Arabia in the face of its cur- rent challenges. Ghanem made this remark to the press after meeting up with Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil Al-Araby recently. “As an Arab parliament, we confirm our support to Saudi Arabia, one of the AIPU members, against any violations that KUWAIT: Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah meets Iraqi Foreign Minister have been done to it, most recently the attacks on its Ibrahim Al-Ja’fari. — KUNA embassy and its diplomatic missions in Iran,” Ghanem said. On his meeting with Araby, Ghanem described it as “con- structive” and had many “eye-to-eye” views on several Sheikh Sabah Khaled meets regional challenges and developments, especially regarding the Palestine file. He stressed that there is an existing coop- eration among AIPU, Arab Parliament and Arab League in Iraqi FM on regional issues order to “unify stances” and “face trials.” AIPU is currently working on regaining Egypt’s member- KUWAIT: Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations ship in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which mainly Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah received yesterday Iraqi and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. While depends on the results of Geneva’s recent meeting and Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Ja’fari, now on a visit to Kuwait. The reaffirming Kuwait’s support to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and House of Representatives’ election on January 10. two sides discussed a range of issues of mutual concern includ- all other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Sheikh Once Egypt gets its membership back, then it will be able ing the latest political and security developments in the Gulf Sabah Khaled urged easing the tension in the region. to resume its important role in Arab parliaments. The next region and beyond.