Two Kuwaitis return home from Guantanamo prison

KUWAIT, Sep 15 (Reuters) Two Kuwaitis held at Guantanamo Bay were undergoing medical tests today after returning home following about four years at the prison, the head of a supporters' group said.

''They had a closely monitored meeting with their families and they were taken to a military hospital,'' said Khaled al-Odah, adding the two men had complained of several health problems.

''Prosecutors may question them as early as tomorrow (Saturday) if the two are deemed fit by doctors,'' said Odah, whose son is one of four Kuwaitis still held at Guantanamo.

The two prisoners, Omar Rajab Amin and Abdullah Kamel al-Kandari, were freed by U.S authorities after what Kuwait said was mediation by the Gulf Arab country's emir, who visited Washington earlier this month.

A total of 12 Kuwaitis were among some 500 men held at the U.S. naval facility in Cuba since the 2001 U.S.-led war that ousted Afghanistan's Taliban rulers following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

In July, Kuwait's supreme court upheld the acquittal of five Kuwaitis of charges of belonging to al Qaeda and ordered the former Guantanamo inmates freed.

Kuwait, a staunch US ally, is a main transit route for American forces going to Iraq. It was the launch pad for the 2003 war on Iraq and up to 25,000 troops are based there.

Reuters PDS VP0140