In 2022, an HVAC technician for a U.S.-based defense contractor at Camp Arifjan U.S. Army Base in Kuwait, Tony Holden, was arrested on fabricated charges.
Holden was abandoned by the Biden-Harris administration, but thanks to President Donald Trump, the grandfather of six is home with his family.
Holden was among 10 American detainees who were released, according to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
According to a website set up to share details of his ordeal, Holden says he was approached by two men who were so violent he thought he was being kidnapped and, ultimately, he signed a forced confession to protect his wife and young daughter.
On November 9, 2022, two men approached Tony Holden and violently detained him. They were in plain clothes and became violent so quickly that Tony thought he was being kidnapped. The men beat Tony and made him bring them to his home on base. They proceeded to kick down the door, trash the entire apartment, and demanded to know where “the drugs” were. When they couldn’t find any drugs because Tony is a law-abiding, heavily background-checked defense contractor who also just happens to abstain from all drugs and alcohol for religious reasons, they beat him again.
Seeing a photo of his wife and daughter, the men forced Tony to reveal that his family lived in a second off-base apartment and led them there. When there weren’t any drugs at the second apartment either, they beat Tony again, this time in front of his wife and three-year-old daughter.
Not receiving the results they wanted, they took Tony, his wife, and his daughter into the Kuwaiti desert in the dead of night. The officers physically threatened his wife and three-year-old daughter. Tony and his family thought they were going to die that night, and nobody would ever know. Eventually, Tony was coerced into signing a written confession in Arabic to protect his family. After his signed confession, they conducted a drug test, which, unsurprisingly, was negative. Tony then disappeared for two weeks before being charged with drug possession, drug trafficking, and attempting to flee the country in court. He was not granted any legal representation.
Holden expressed his gratitude to the president for bringing him home to his family in a video circulating online.
“Mr. President, President Trump, I want to thank you for what you’ve done for me and my family,” Holden shared.
“I just mentioned to Adam that I wanted you to know (and) everyone on your team, everyone that has supported this effort, that you know that we greatly appreciate it.”
“I wanted you to be able to meditate on how you’ve affected, personally, lives and the difference that you’ve made.”
“I’m a sixty-year-old grandather, and father, and I just can’t put in words how excited…give all the grace and honor to God. He uses instruments, and there have been a lot of people behind the scenes who have done a great work and I wanted you to be able to hear that directly from me.”
“And again, God bless you and your family.”
Watch:
47 hostages in 100 days thanks to the President.
This is today, Dulles Airport.
Tony Holden is a contractor from Memphis that was imprisoned for four years and hasn’t seen his youngest daughter since she was a baby.
He’s home. Because of President @realDonaldTrump.
47 for 47. pic.twitter.com/5TzUq1DtGm
— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) May 1, 2025
