Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Fawzi [Fouzi] Khaled Abdullah Fahad Al Odah the 35 year old Kuwaiti citizen and teacher held in the US Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba for the past 11 years without charge has been featured in the New York Times. Fawzi traveled to the Pakistan/Afghanistan border area in order to undertake charitable outreach work. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Fawzi fled Afghanistan, intending to return home to Kuwait, however having crossed the border into Pakistan he was captured by Pakistani bounty hunters who handed him along with eleven other Kuwaitis over to American authorities. The Kuwait Freedom Project established to seek the release of Fawzi and other Kuwaiti detainee’s reports that Fawzi spent his summers traveling in poor nations to educate less fortunate students, and along with his family have built libraries and wells in Africa. They’ve sponsored orphans in countries including Albania. Fawzi has not had any weapons training or experience, writing to his parents in 2002 stating, “Now I am detained by the American forces and investigations are still going on…I will be established as innocent soon, and then I will return back to you…” Fawzi’s father, Khalid Al-Odah, is the head of the Kuwaiti Family Committee, an organization formed by relatives of the detainees to advocate for their just treatment under the U.S. judicial system. The elder Al-Odah is a former member of the Kuwaiti Air Force, who trained with American servicemen in the United States and flew missions with them as an ally in the Persian Gulf War of 1991. … The U.S. Government contends that Fawzi’s true purpose in Afghanistan was to join the Taliban and al Qaeda referring to “additional incriminating evidence” discovered since his capture, however the nature of that evidence is redacted in the unclassified version…”

Inspired by Project Kuwaiti Freedom ow.ly/hMvRJ Image source Wikipedia ow.ly/hMvQa

Has already suffered far too much in one lifetime (December 18th)

Adel Al-Gazzar the 56 year old Egyptian formerly held for eight years by the US in the Cuban Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, and imprisoned in Egypt on his return, has Katie Taylor a project officer with Reprieve, calling for Ad-Gazzar’s amnesty. Al-Gazzar had a leg amputated as a result of a US bombing raid in Afghanistan on what he claims was a humanitarian visit to provide aid for the Saudi Red Crescent, he managed to return to Pakistan for treatment until sold to US security agents for a bounty. He was subsequently moved to Guantanamo Bay and been imprisoned for the past decade. Al-Gazzar is currently held by the Egyptians for “attempting to overthrow former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime … widely condemned as an attempt by Mubarak to suppress his Islamist opponents.” Taylor states that “Adel has already suffered far too much in one lifetime. He has been unjustly detained for nearly a decade, and as a result, has suffered permanent injury and chronic health problems and his family now stands on the edge of poverty.”

Inspired by Katie Taylor http://ow.ly/7VoPa image source eurasiareview http://ow.ly/7VoVy