KUWAIT'S NEW REHAB CENTER FOR FORMER GTMO

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.

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Origins
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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.

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Rehab Program: the Saudi Model & Legal Constraints
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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.

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Comment
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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.

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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit:
visit Kuwait's Classified Website at:

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