Fawzi Khaled Abdullah Fahad Al Odah -- is a 25 year-old teacher who once spent his summers traveling in poor nations to educate less fortunate students. Fawzi and his family have built libraries and wells in Africa. They’ve sponsored orphans in countries like Albania. After September 11th, Fawzi decided to remain in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region to help the flood of refugees. His family soon lost contact and did not learn that he had been taken prisoner until January 2002, when they heard he was being held by the U.S.

Fawzi has no weapons training or experience. On May 7, 2002, Fawzi sent his parents a letter saying, “Now I am detained by the American forces and investigations are still going on…I will be established as innocent soon, and then I will return back to you…” Fawzi’s father, Khalid Al-Odah, is the head of the Kuwaiti Family Committee, an organization formed by relatives of the detainees to advocate for their just treatment under the U.S. judicial system. The elder Al-Odah is a former member of the Kuwaiti Air Force, who trained with American servicemen in the United States and flew missions with them as an ally in the Persian Gulf War of 1991.

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