VZCZCXRO5791
PP RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR
DE RUEHKU #0613/01 1731318
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 221318Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3513
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 000613 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/ARP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2018 
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV PINR IR KDRG PHUM KU
SUBJECT: KUWAIT'S NEW REHAB CENTER FOR FORMER GTMO 
DETAINEES AND OTHER EXTREMISTS 
 
REF: A. 08KUWAIT1022 
     ¶B. 08KUWAIT1188 
     ¶C. 09KUWAIT105 
     ¶D. 09KUWAIT110 
     ¶E. 09KUWAIT502 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Pete O'Donohue for reasons 1.4 b and 
 d 
 
1.(S) SUMMARY. At the Embassy's request, a team of GOK 
officials from multiple ministries -- many just back from a 
"fact-finding" trip to Saudi Arabia's rehabilitation 
facilities for GTMO returnees and other former militant 
jihadists -- escorted Ambassador and staff through their 
proposed rehabilitation center, located in a refurbished wing 
of Kuwait's central prison.  The GOK plans to detain, 
interrogate, and rehabilitate its four remaining GTMO 
detainees in this facility, asserting that based on the Saudi 
model, such rehabilitation can take place within a six month 
detention period that can be accommodated within existing 
Kuwaiti laws and state security procedures.  The facility, 
where refurbishment began in May, will not be ready to accept 
inmates for at least another two months.  Absent compelling 
physical evidence and new CT legislation, it is doubtful the 
GOK can successfully try and detain any of their four 
remaining GTMO prisoners beyond the six month rehabilitation 
period.  END SUMMARY. 
 
----------------- 
Origins 
----------------- 
 
2.(S) On June 18, Ambassador visited Kuwait's new multi-story 
Rehabilitation Center for Radicals and was taken on a guided 
tour by the Ministry of Interior's Major General Musaed 
Al-Ghuwainim, who is Assistant Undersecretary for 
Correctional Institutions.  The GOK began planning for the 
center in September 2008, following a discussion between 
Prime Minister Nasser Al-Sabah and former Secretary Rice in 
Washington on the possible role of such a center with respect 
to Kuwait's four remaining Guantanamo detainees (Ref A).  GOK 
officials subsequently consulted Saudi Interior Ministry 
officials and ultimately based much of their present center 
on the Saudi rehabilitation model.  There appears to have 
been little progress on the center throughout 2008 (Refs B, 
C, D), but during Secretary Clinton's April 2009 visit to 
Kuwait, Foreign Minister Mohammad Al-Sabah unexpectedly 
announced that Kuwait had arranged to place the four 
remaining GTMO detainees in a "clinic" within Kuwait's 
Central Prison (Ref E).  At a follow-up meeting on April 29, 
2009, an MFA official advised that the center was nearly 
complete and ready for official visits (Ref E). 
 
3.(S) According to Al-Ghuwainim, who had just returned from a 
field visit to the Saudi facilities, in early 2009 the GOK 
formed a committee of representatives from ten ministries to 
oversee the construction and management of the new center, 
including representatives from the Ministries of Interior, 
Social Affairs and Labor, Justice, Health, and Awqaf and 
Islamic Affairs.  The board also included Dr. Khalid Al-Awda, 
the father of current Guantanamo detainee Fouzi Khalid 
Abdullah Al-Awda (ISN 232) and chairman of the Kuwaiti 
Guantanamo Detainees Families NGO.  (Note:  Al-Awda, an 
articulate and cordial interlocutor, was present throughout 
the Ambassador's visit. End note.)  Al-Ghuwainim said the GOK 
began construction work on the center in May, creating it out 
of a disused branch of its Central Prison. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Rehab Program: the Saudi Model & Legal Constraints 
---------------------------------- 
 
4.(S) Al-Ghuwainim said that the center was designed after 
the Saudi model; its staff of fifty would include both 
moderate clerics and trained psychiatrists whose aim will be 
to return the detainees to an appreciation of moderate Islam 
and eventually to normal society.  The Ministry of Health's 
Dr. Adnan Al-Shatti described to the Ambassador plans for a 
social reintegration program to be carried out by officials 
from his Ministry in collaboration with officials from the 
Ministries of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and Social Affairs 
and Labor.  Dr. Al-Shatti said that at the end of the 
program, he hopes to employ the "reformed" Guantanamo 
detainees as counselors for other apprehended extremists 
brought to the rehabilitation center, including any returned 
from Iraq or other conflict zones.  To keep the former 
detainees rehabilitated, Dr. Al-Shatti plans on having them 
issued a monthly 750KD ($2,600) payment and helping them to 
get married and settle down with a family.  GTMO NGO chair 
 
KUWAIT 00000613  002 OF 002 
 
 
Khalid Al-Awda asserted that of the previous eight GTMO 
detainees, seven had been fully reintegrated into Kuwaiti 
life; Ambassador remarked that the eighth was a notable 
exception (Al-Azmi, who blew himself up in Mosul). 
 
5.(S) Ambassador noted her understanding that the GOK was 
constrained in its ability to compel these individuals to 
remain in rehab facilities or to detain them absent a 
judicial order, unlike in Saudi Arabia.  Al-Ghuwainim 
responded that the GOK has the legal right to hold them for 
up to six months prior to any sentencing, through a 
sequencing of interrogations and related detentions, adding 
that Saudi officials had told him that -- in their experience 
-- most terrorists were "normalized" within six months of 
treatment.  The rehabilitation of the detainees would be 
carried out simultaneously with the legal proceedings against 
them, so that by the end of the initial six month period 
Kuwaiti courts would be ready to sentence the detainees if 
necessary, according to Al-Ghuwainim.  After serving these 
sentences, Al-Ghuwainim said, the former detainees would be 
released and monitored on a 24-hour basis, although 
Al-Ghuwainim did not provide specific details. 
 
----------------- 
Comment 
----------------- 
 
6.(S) There was little discernible movement on establishing a 
rehabilitation center in the months following the Prime 
Minister's commitment to former Secretary Rice (Ref A). 
However, the GOK appears to have been galvanized by the 
President's announced plans to close Guantanamo by the end of 
the year and by continuing domestic pressure on the GOK to 
bring their "boys" home.  We are not in a position to compare 
Saudi rehab facilities/programs to those in Kuwait, but the 
GOK's large, newly-remodeled prison facility represents an 
impressive effort and could be ready to operate as a rehab 
center within a few months, as suggested.  We are not 
experts, but with cords dangling from the air conditioning 
units and porcelain toilet fixtures which can be easily 
broken into shards, the rehab/detention facility does not 
appear to be constructed for high threat/dangerous prisoners. 
The facility clearly was designed to promote a soft re-entry 
into Kuwaiti society, with plans for landscaping and a soccer 
field. 
 
7.(S)  A DOD team charged with defending Kuwaiti GTMO 
detainee Faiz Mohammed Ahmed Al-Kandari (ISN 552) visited 
Kuwait on June 8, 2009, and was given a tour of the rehab 
center in addition to meeting with MFA officials. (Note: 
Embassy was unaware of the team's activities in advance as 
they had coordinated country clearance with the OMC-K office 
at post without specifying their objectives.  End note.)  In 
a follow-on press conference, the team reportedly offered 
their assessment that their "clients" were innocent and there 
was insufficient evidence to prosecute. Dr. Al-Awda, father 
of one of those detainees, remarked to Ambassador following 
the visit that he was aware that release decisions were soon 
to be made.  We understand that a decision may soon be made 
concerning at least two of the Kuwaiti detainees and that 
there has been consideration of releasing them to a third 
country.  If the Kuwaitis believe they have addressed our 
criteria and met the Saudi standard for rehabilitation, they 
will respond angrily and publicly to any decision to send 
their "boys" elsewhere. 
 
********************************************* ********* 
For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: 
visit Kuwait's Classified Website at: 
 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Kuwa it 
********************************************* ********* 
JONES