Pakistan: Oldest prisoner freed from Guantanamo, back home

A 75-year-old from Pakistan who was the oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre was released and returned to Pakistan on Saturday, the foreign ministry in Islamabad and the US Defense Department said.

The ministry added that Saifullah Paracha was reunited with his family after more than 17 years in custody in the US base in Cuba, ABC News reports.

Paracha had been held on suspicion of ties to al-Qaida since 2003 but was never charged with a crime. Last year in May, he was notified that he had been approved for release. He was cleared by the prisoner review board and two other men in November 2020.

As is customary, the notification did not provide detailed reasoning for the decision and concluded only that Paracha is "not a continuing threat" to the United States, according to Shelby Sullivan-Bennis, who represented him at his hearing at the time.

The DOD said in its October 29 statement that the US appreciates "the willingness of Pakistan and other partners to support ongoing US efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility".

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had completed an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate Paracha's repatriation in Pakistan.

"We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family," the ministry said.

Paracha, who lived in the United States and owned property in New York City, was a wealthy businessman in Pakistan. Authorities alleged he was an al-Qaida "facilitator" who helped two of the conspirators in the September 11 plot with a financial transaction.

He has maintained that he didn't know they were al-Qaida and denied any involvement in terrorism.

The US captured Paracha in Thailand in 2003 and held him at Guantanamo since September 2004. Washington has long asserted that it can hold detainees indefinitely without charge under the international laws of war.