WASHINGTON >> Kuwait has released an additional 10 American detainees, bringing to nearly two dozen the total number freed by the country in the past two months, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Taken together, Kuwait’s pardons of 23 Americans since March — done as a goodwill gesture by the U.S. ally — amounted to the largest release of U.S. citizens by a single foreign country in years.

The prisoners include military contractors and veterans held on drug charges and other offenses by the small, oil-rich nation. One detainee was said by supporters to have been coerced into signing a false confession and endured physical violence and threats against his wife and daughter.

Ten others were released on March 12, weeks after a visit to Kuwait by Adam Boehler, who is serving as the Trump administration’s envoy for hostage affairs.

“We flew out, we sat down with the Kuwaitis, and they said, listen, no one’s ever asked before at this level” for the release of the Americans, Boehler told the AP.

The releases were not done as part of a swap and the U.S. was not asked to give up anything in return.

“They’ve been extremely responsive, and their view is the United States is a huge ally. They know it’s a priority for (President Donald Trump) to bring Americans home,” Boehler said. “I credit it to the Kuwaiti understanding that we’ve stood up for them historically and they know that these things are important for the president.”

The Americans “maintain their innocence, and it’s important to note none of these cases had an identified victim, and all of them were built on supposed confessions taken in Arabic without translation,” according to a statement from Jonathan Franks, a private consultant working on cases involving American hostages and detainees who represented nine of the 10 people released Wednesday. He spent weeks in the country trying to negotiate the releases.