‘The Interpreter’ is the English version of Arabic novel ‘Al Tarjuman’, authored by Ashraf Aboul Yazid, an eminent writer and poet of Egypt

“Finding Miraculous Survivors awaiting the Hand of Fate”

Dear “Suzie,”

I greet you from my office, which resembles a Swiss cheese cube, located at the end of the ground floor in the garden of the National Committee for Prisoners and Missing Persons in Kuwait. While I rarely see that garden except when entering or leaving the office, I keep a picture of us together — you, me, and our daughter Heidi — on the wall to my left, in front of our beautiful house in our town of Zermatt, with the towering Matterhorn mountain standing behind us, an iconic symbol of the Alps.

I am here, buying Toblerone chocolate from the airport market, featuring our beautiful mountain in southern Switzerland, near the border with Italy.

I live in this closed office room, surrounded by my files, papers, and dictionaries, dividing my time between translating minutes of Red Cross and committee meetings, and writing news in French, English, and German to be published to the world, continuing my role here.

The International Day of the Missing — which we celebrated on August 30th — was exceptional this year at the National Committee for Prisoners and Missing Persons. Kuwait, as it does every year, joined international humanitarian organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, in marking this day. As usual, all families waiting for news about their missing relatives were invited, as were families suffering worldwide due to armed conflicts or the ongoing violence that is sweeping the world, especially in neighboring countries.

Do you remember when we met in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on December 10th, 2005? That day, we were celebrating the anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since that date, the International Day of the Missing has been observed every year on August 30th, with the last week of May dedicated as the Global Week for the Missing.

Every year, the National Committee for Prisoners and Missing Persons reminds the entire world of the immense suffering of the families of Kuwaiti prisoners who lost their loved ones, taken by force to Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait on August 2nd, 1990.

I tell you that the celebration that day was exceptional because a surprising piece of news reached the Director-General of the committee, completely altering the course of our work.

Someone from Iraq sent photographs in a package, handed over by a pilgrim coming from Najaf. To our shock, we found pictures of passports and identity cards belonging to mostly Kuwaiti individuals, with the messenger claiming they were still alive.

The National Committee for Prisoners and Missing Persons had long called for mechanisms to search for the truth, in addition to its experience in supporting the families and representatives of the missing. I had written a memorandum on compensating victims of torture, after discovering mass graves where Kuwaitis were executed immediately upon capture, just before the liberation of Kuwait.

I knew that some were alive, but there were two obstacles to finding them: first, knowing where they were, and second, protecting the informants. That’s why I wished for my project to establish an effective and financially independent judicial system to be implementable, to address the issues and needs of human rights violations victims and their families, relieving them of the costs of lawsuits and administrative expenses, while finding mechanisms to protect and support eyewitnesses.

Our task in the committee was not limited to caring for the prisoners’ families and their loved ones, for nearly every Kuwaiti household suffered the ordeal, but we were racing against time. Over the years, we uncovered several cases where we found remains, but the miraculous discovery of survivors still awaited fate’s hand.

I’ll tell you a secret: The committee generously spends on the families of prisoners and the missing, but from time to time, we investigate violations of spending conditions by some of their relatives. What many don’t know is that a huge amount is also spent on the delegations that come to visit us — from hosting them to the cash and in-kind gifts they receive to carry out their duties, especially journalists. It’s not just junior editors and photographers, but even gifts reach the editors-in-chief. Delegations come from all continents, and from most Arab countries, with Egypt at the top.

We arranged meetings with the families of the missing and prisoners for the news agencies and journalists — both Arab and foreign. Recently, I translated interviews by journalist “Paul Ritcher” of Agence France-Presse with several families of prisoners. The wife of prisoner “Ali Sand Al-Mutairi” told him that they captured her husband when their son “Mohammad” was just one year old. She feels the bitterness of his absence, hoping that current international conditions would lead to the return of all prisoners.

Ritcher also listened to “Kholoud,” the sister of prisoner “Mashal Reda,” who was captured in the early days of the invasion while heading to Saudi Arabia. A few days later, a colleague informed his family that he had been captured at the border and was in a detention camp. Since then, no news of him had been heard. Tragically, he was newly married and had a daughter he never saw, who now only knows her father through his picture. As for “Fawziya Al-Shamali,” the wife of prisoner “Sarour Falah,” she told the news agency about his capture at the Saudi-Kuwaiti border while coming from Riyadh to enter Kuwait. Some released prisoners claimed he was in a Kuwaiti detention camp before being transferred to Iraq. Since then, no news of him had reached her.

Dear “Suzie,”

Here, I consider myself a representative of all of Europe, which stood by Kuwait’s just cause to recover its prisoners and search for the missing from the very beginning. We have received visits from princes, prime ministers, ministers, heads of agencies, and journalists from all European countries, all declaring their support for Kuwait’s rightful cause.

Sheikh “Salem Al-Sabah,” Chairman of the National Committee for Prisoners and Missing Persons, was always keen to reject Iraq’s claim that there were no prisoners in Iraq. After liberation, they claimed that our insistence on the existence of prisoners provided justification for the Americans to attack Iraq.

I personally witnessed UN Special Coordinator for Prisoners Ambassador “Yuli Forentsov” respond to a question from journalists regarding a statement by Iraqi Vice President “Taha Yassin Ramadan” that talk about prisoners was trivial and that those who spoke of prisoners gave a green light to the Americans to strike Iraq:

“I think there’s a mistake in the Iraqi logic. Prisoners exist, and everyone is waiting for Iraq’s cooperation, to know how and when they will be released. Why don’t these people return to their families and their country? What is their health condition? What the Iraqis are repeating is not true. The Iraqis kidnapped the Kuwaitis from their country and deported them to Iraq, and accordingly, the Iraqis are responsible for determining the fate of the Kuwaiti prisoners. The Iraqis have examined 126 Kuwaiti files, but what about the hundreds of other files?”

The appearance of living prisoners after all these years meant that we were right, and that hope never dies.

So, I return you to the issue of the official documents, where we learned that a group had been imprisoned in a district of Baghdad, managed to escape, and scattered across several homes. We received a call from one of them saying he had a message for the Prisoners Committee about one of the missing, but he wanted a reward and also protection. Kuwait had announced a reward of one million dollars for anyone who provided information leading the committee to find anything substantial regarding these people.

I coordinated with the Red Cross office management in Baghdad to send one of their employees to a location chosen by the person who sent the documents. Along with our employee, we sent a Thuraya phone to prevent the call from being traced. For the first time, I heard someone say he had been captured 19 years ago and that he wanted to return to his family and his country.

I told him:

“Please, we will verify your story, and you will come to Kuwait, meet the chairman of the committee, and its general manager. We will prepare your family for your reunion before it happens. Please, do not release any information before then. This is extremely sensitive. No doubt your family has suffered all these years, but the shock will be immense if things do not unfold as we’ve planned. You must meet with the specialists at the committee first and foremost.”

My dear “Suzie,”

I miss you, and I long to see our daughter “Heidi,” just as I wish we could be together in our small house with its vibrant garden, gazing at the snowy mountains behind it.

I promise we will meet at the next Christmas celebrations.

Yours sincerely, Frank Montreau

Road No. 1, Sabah Al-Salem, Kuwait (Continues)

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Published under International Cooperation with "Sindh Courier"