Guantanamo Bay Detainee Released, Transferred to Kuwait
Published at
Benjamin Haas/Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A Guantanamo Bay detainee was released to his home country of Kuwait on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Fouzi Khalid Abdullah Al Awda was released from the detention facility on Wednesday after a Periodic Review Board determined in July that continued detention of the prisoner was unnecessary to “protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States.” The Pentagon says that the government of Kuwait was willing “to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.”
The Department of Defense says 148 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay.
Al Awda had been detained since 2001, and he is just the second detainee to be released this year — excluding the five Taliban detainees sent to Qatar as part of the deal to gain Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s freedom.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio