Former MP Mohammad Hayef made that comment during a gathering held outside the United States embassy in Kuwait on Sunday night to demand the release of Fouzi Al-Odah and Fayez Al-Kandari, imprisoned in Guantanamo for 11 years now.
“The Kuwaiti people are capable of kidnapping two US soldiers in order to make America bow down, so show some respect and directly contact the Kuwaiti government to release our fellow citizens in Guantanamo,” Hayef said, before insisting that “Kuwaitis (will) never resort to such bad methods despite the fact that Americans roam our malls and visit our dewaniyas.”
Meanwhile, Hayef suggested forming a public committee to find new ways to put pressure on the US administration “because gatherings and protests have so far failed to make any improvement.”
“America disrespects the Kuwaiti people by holding two of its people in custody without trial,” he said, and demanded fair trial for Al-Odah and Al-Kandari.
He said their prolonged confinement was helped because of “a weak [Kuwaiti] government incapable of demanding that America put its people on trial.”
Fellow Islamist former lawmaker Waleed Al-Tabtabaei said that failure to put Al-Odah and Al-Kandari on trial is “a conclusive evidence of their innocence.”
“There are many countries whose citizens were freed from Guantanamo despite providing nothing to America in return,” he said, adding that “the Kuwaiti negotiator is either weak, or fails to use the many services that Kuwait provides to America (as a bargaining chip) during negotiations.” Khalid Al-Odah,
Fouzi’s father and founder of the Kuwait Family Committee – an organization formed in 2004 by relatives of the Kuwaiti detainees in Guantanamo – was also present at the gathering.
He posed a series of questions to US President Barack Obama, accusing him of failing to live up to his promise to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison.
He also mentioned reports released by foreign organizations which talk of hunger strikes being carried out by several detainees as well as cases of force feeding.
