Families of Arab prisoners detained without trial at Guantanamo Bay since it opened 10 years ago are despairing of seeing them again soon despite US pledges to shut the facility.

Fawzi al-Odah and Fayez al-Kandari, the only two Kuwaitis still at the centre, may spend the rest of their lives in prison without trial, said Mr Odah’s father, Khaled, who heads a committee of families of detainees.

“Our life has changed for the worse since 10 years ago. I am suffering having to endure missing my son and at the same time trying to alleviate the sufferings of the rest of my family,” he said.

The duo are among detainees who did not receive approval for transfer from the US detention centre that was built as part of Washington’s war on terror because they are considered too dangerous to be released, Mr Odah added.

Ten Kuwaiti detainees have been released and sent back home. All of them got married and have children and are now leading normal lives, Mr Odah said.

Except for one, Mohammad al-Ajmi, who is officially listed as missing while US and Iraqi authorities say he carried out a suicide attack in northern Iraq a few years ago.

US authorities initially promised Kuwait to release Mr Odah and Kandari, aged 34 and 35 respectively, but they later retracted their pledge despite Kuwait agreeing to conditions that Mr Odah’s father described as tough.

The two were arrested in northern Pakistan in late 2001 by tribesmen who sold them to the Pakistani army who in turn handed them over to the United States, he said.

Both of them were on charity missions and were never involved in any act of fighting, he insisted.

Some 89 inmates have already received the green light for transfer, which theoretically means that they are free.

Most are Yemenis, but US President Barack Obama imposed in January 2010 a moratorium on the release of Yemenis.

“There remain 90 Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo,” said Ahmed Armane, who takes care of the detainees file at the Yemeni human rights organisation Hood.