Kuwait: ICRC helps Iraqi families visit detained relatives
24-03-2010 News Release 10/46
Geneva/Kuwait/Baghdad (ICRC) – The families of six Iraqis detained in Kuwait in connection with the 1990-1991 Gulf War have begun a three-day visit to their relatives held at the Kuwait Central Prison.
The visit, the second of its kind, was organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in close cooperation with the Kuwaiti authorities.
The detainees and their families are being given the opportunity to talk freely for a few hours each day. " This will bring major psychological relief both to the detainees and to their families, " said Jean-Michel Monod, the head of the ICRC's regional delegation in Kuwait. " In addition, it will reassure the detainees that they have not been forgotten. "
Besides organizing family visits, in recent years the ICRC has regularly facilitated the exchange of Red Cross messages (brief messages containing family news) between the detainees and their families in Iraq. Since March 1991, ICRC delegates have been visiting people in Kuwaiti places of detention to monitor the conditions in which they are being held and the treatment they receive.
For further information, please contact:Fouad Bawaba, ICRC Kuwait, tel: +965 9787 9434
Dibeh Fakhr, ICRC Iraq, tel: +962 777 399 614
Dorothea Krimitsas, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 25 90 or +41 79 251 93 18