KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait has freed nine Iraqis who were jailed over a failed plot to assassinate former US president George Bush senior in 1993, Al-Anbaa newspaper reported Thursday.
Quoting an unnamed security official, the daily said that the Kuwaiti authorities had decided to deport the men to Iraq following a visit by officials from Baghdad.
Bush, who in January 1991 led an international coalition to liberate Kuwait after seven months of Iraqi occupation, visited the Gulf emirate in April 1993 to commemorate the victory.
During the visit, Kuwaiti authorities arrested 16 people, mostly Iraqis, for allegedly plotting a car bomb attack to kill Bush. A Kuwaiti court later convicted most of them and handed them extended prison terms.
The United States fired 23 cruise missiles at the headquarters of Iraq's intelligence services in Baghdad in 1993 following an order from Bush's successor, Bill Clinton.
Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered his forces to invade Kuwait on August 2, 1990. They were driven out by the international coalition on February 26,1991.