Kuwait has released an additional 10 American detainees, bringing to nearly two dozen the total number freed by the country in the past two months, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The pardons of 23 Americans, done as a goodwill gesture by a U.S. ally, have yielded a quick succession of prisoner releases in the early months of a Trump administration that has sought to make hostage and detainee issues a foreign policy priority.
The prisoners, both men and women, include military contractors and veterans held for years on drug charges and other offenses by the small, oil-rich nation. One of them was said by supporters to have been coerced into signing a false confession and endured physical violence and threats against his wife and daughter.
Ten others were released in March, weeks after a visit to Kuwait by Adam Boehler, who is serving as the Trump administration’s envoy for hostage affairs. Other countries, including Venezuela, have released large numbers of Americans over a period of years, but it’s unusual for so many U.S. citizens to be freed by a foreign nation in such a short period of time as Kuwait has done.
“We flew out, we sat down with the Kuwaitis, and they said, ‘Listen, no one’s ever asked before at this level” for the release of the Americans, Boehler told the AP.
The releases were not done as part of a swap and the U.S. was not asked to give up anything in return.
“They’ve been extremely responsive, and their view is the United States is a huge ally. They know it’s a priority for (President Donald Trump) to bring Americans home,” Boehler said. “I credit it to the Kuwaiti understanding that we’ve stood up for them historically and they know that these things are important for the president.”
Kuwait is considered a major non-NATO ally of the U.S. The U.S. and Kuwait have had a close military partnership since America launched the 1991 Gulf War to expel Iraqi troops after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, with some 13,500 American troops stationed in Kuwait at Camp Arifjan and Ali al-Salem Air Base.
But the country also has detained many American military contractors on drug charges, in some cases for years. Their families have alleged that their loved ones faced abuse while imprisoned in a country that bans alcohol and has strict laws regarding drugs. Others have criticized Kuwaiti police for bringing trumped-up charges and manufacturing evidence used against them — allegations never acknowledged by the autocratic nation ruled by a hereditary emir.
A spokesperson for the Kuwaiti embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Americans freed Wednesday “maintain their innocence, and it’s important to note none of these cases had an identified victim, and all of them were built on supposed confessions taken in Arabic without translation,” according to a statement from Jonathan Franks, a private consultant working on cases involving American hostages and detainees who represented nine of the 10 people released. He spent weeks in the country trying to negotiate the releases.
He credited the Trump administration for looking “for reasons to bring Americans home” even when they are not designated by the U.S. government as having been wrongfully detained. He said “these Americans, mostly veterans, lost years with their families.”
Among those freed Wednesday was Tony Holden, an HVAC technician and career defense contractor. He was working in support of Camp Arifjan at the time of his November 2022 arrest, when his family and supporters allege he was “set up by corrupt Kuwaiti police looking to earn bonuses.”
His supporters say his wife and daughter were physically threatened, that he was coerced into signing a written confession in Arabic and that his drug possession charge and sentence came in spite of him testing negative in a drug test and abstaining for religious reasons from drug and alcohol use.