15 Shiite Terrorists Escaped From Kuwait Jail, Ex-Inmate Claims

A Lebanese Shiite Muslim who claims he escaped from prison in Kuwait during Iraq’s invasion said Saturday that 15 convicted terrorists linked to kidnapers in Lebanon also fled from jail.

Earlier, unconfirmed reports speculated that the 15 had been taken to Baghdad.

A pro-Iranian Shiite faction in Lebanon, Islamic Jihad, which has been holding Americans Terry A. Anderson and Thomas Sutherland for more than five years, had demanded the release of the 15 prisoners in return for freeing the two Americans.

The Lebanese who said he escaped, Abdulaziz Krayyem, said he was imprisoned in 1985 on charges of cooperating with the 15, mostly Iraqi Shiites, who were convicted in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait as well as Kuwaiti installations.

Krayyem said he was among 1,600 prisoners who overpowered their guards and escaped when they heard about the invasion. He said the 15 were among those who got out.

“I saw them climbing into taxicabs with Kuwaiti plate numbers,” which then sped away, Krayyem said. “That’s all I saw.”

However, the report could not be independently verified.

Krayyem said he has no idea of the current whereabouts of the 15.

He said he hid out for 10 days with Kuwaiti inmates who got their families to collect them after the jailbreak. The Lebanese Embassy issued a new passport for him, and he joined a car convoy sponsored by the embassy that passed through Saudi Arabia, then Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, he said.

Krayyem, 35, arrived Friday in his hometown of Yater, 56 miles south of Beirut.

Krayyem said “chaos broke out immediately” after Kuwaiti prison guards told the inmates about the invasion.

“The prisoners started shouting at the guards,” he said. “The guards fired at them, killing an Iraqi and an Afghan prisoner.

“After a few hours of fighting with the guards, the prisoners were able to occupy the prison and overthrow the guards.”