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.