A criminal court on Saturday acquitted two former Guantánamo Bay prisoners of joining al Qaeda or the Taliban. Omar Rajab Amin and Abdullah Kamel al Kundari denied any terror connections at the start of their trial. Their lawyers argued there was no evidence against them and the case was ''political.'' Defense attorneys said the accused were in Afghanistan for charity work -- not to fight.Details of the ruling, which was announced by a court clerk, were not immediately available. Their lawyer, Thikra al Majdali, said she expected them to be released from custody by tomorrow. The prosecution can appeal the ruling, but it was not clear Saturday if it would do so.
Amin, 41, and Kundari, 32, were held for nearly five years at the prison camps in remote southeast Cuba until their release in September. They were detained by authorities for questioning upon their return to Kuwait. The prosecution claimed the pair had harmed Kuwait's political image by becoming members of Osama bin Laden's terror network and joining the ranks of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime that hosted al Qaeda and fought U.S. forces.
| The two had ties to charities which were linked to terror groups and their names had been found on the hard drive of a computer seized from a suspected al Qaeda member. |
The U.S. military did not charge Amin or Kundari with any crimes. According to military documents and David Cynamon, their U.S. attorney, the two had ties to charities which were linked to terror groups and their names had been found on the hard drive of a computer seized from a suspected al Qaeda member.