Kuwait lobbies for Gitmo detainee release

NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Kuwaiti officials are scheduled to meet with members of the U.S. State Department to discuss the terms of the release of Kuwait nationals from Guantanamo Bay.

Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheik Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmed al-Sabah was scheduled to meet with Daniel Fried, the U.S. special envoy for the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while international leaders convene at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.

Fried oversees a team tasked with facilitating the closure of the controversial detention facility by January.

Two Kuwaiti nationals were released earlier this year following a petition for habeas corpus. A third is under review and a fourth Kuwaiti is scheduled for a hearing Oct. 19, Emirati newspaper The National reports.

In an interview with the BBC, Fried described the negotiated release of Guantanamo detainees as a "huge" and "complicated" problem. Kuwait, however, has established a special rehabilitation center modeled on Saudi Arabian efforts that Fried says alleviates many of the concerns.

The U.S. courts have freed several of the prisoners from Guantanamo on habeas claims. There are around 229 detainees remaining, including Sept. 11, 2001, mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed.