Iraqi families visit their detained relatives for first time since 1991

Kuwait:
14 Apr 2009 07:31:06 GMT
Source: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) - Switzerland

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Kuwait/Baghdad (ICRC) – From 13 to 16 April, members of five Iraqi families will for the first time travel to Kuwait to visit their relatives detained there since the 1990-91 Gulf War.

Their visit has been organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in coordination with the Kuwaiti authorities.

The detainees are among those arrested and sentenced in connection with the 1990-91 Gulf War and still being held in the Kuwait Central Prison.

"The Kuwaiti authorities have fully supported and facilitated the visits, which will bring some relief to the detainees and their families," said John Strick van Linschoten, the ICRC's coordinator for visits to detainees in Kuwait.

"The ICRC organizes family visits to re-establish and maintain family links severed by armed conflict.

We hope to be able to arrange further such visits in Kuwait on a regular basis".

The ICRC has as well facilitated the exchange of Red Cross Messages between the detainees and their families in Iraq during the past years.

The ICRC has been visiting prisoners in Kuwaiti detention places since March 1991.


For more information, please contact:
Fouad Bawaba, ICRC Kuwait, tel: +965 9787 9434
Dibeh Fakhr, ICRC Iraq, tel: +962 777 399 614


See also ICRC media contacts

This article on www.icrc.org