Six Americans, consisting of veterans and military contractors, who had been imprisoned on drug charges were released by Kuwait, according a recent report from the Associated Press.
Jonathan Franks, who works as a private consultant on cases regarding “American hostages and detainees,” expressed that his “clients and their families” were thankful to Kuwait’s “government for this kind humanitarian gesture,” according to the outlet.
Franks, who accompanied the six “newly freed prisoners” on a flight to New York, said that more Americans “he represents also are expected to be released” by the Kuwaiti government.
The outlet noted that the six Americans who were released “had not been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained.”
The Americans released Wednesday had not been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained. The status is applied to a subsection of Americans jailed abroad and historically ensures the case is handled by the administration’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs — the office that handles negotiations for a release.
Franks issued a statement that “These Americans were left in prison for years due to a misguided policy that had, before President Trump took office, effectively abandoned Americans abroad.”
The release of the six Americans from Kuwait comes as Russia previously freed two Americans who had been detained on drug charges; Kalob Wayne Byers and teacher Marc Fogel.
As Breitbart News’s John Hayward previously reported, the Kremlin announced on February 12 that an “unnamed Russian citizen” would be freed from captivity in the United States “as part of the deal to free” Fogel, 63, who was “detained by Russian customs agents for possessing half an ounce of medical marijuana in 2021.”
Days later, Russia was reported to have freed Byers, 28, “about ten daycas after he was detained at the Vnukovo airport in Moscow” after custom officials claimed to have discovered “cannabis-laced gummies or marmalade.”
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