Kuwait court acquits two former Guantanamo detainees

KUWAIT, Mar 4 (Reuters) A Kuwaiti court has cleared two Kuwaitis of charges of belonging to al Qaeda and ordered the former detainees of the Guantanamo Bay prison freed, a judicial source said today.

Omar Rajab Amin and Abdullah Kamel al-Kandari, released from the US prison in September after what Kuwait said was mediation by the Gulf Arab country's emir, have been held since their return.

They were charged with joining al Qaeda and engaging in activities harmful to relations with a friendly country.

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

Kuwait's supreme court last year acquitted six Kuwaitis formerly detained at Guantanamo of charges of belonging to al Qaeda, after they were freed and returned home.

Kuwait, a staunch US ally, is a main transit route for American forces going to Iraq and was the launch pad for the 2003 war on Iraq.

REUTERS SHB BD1834