Oldest Guantanamo Bay inmate returns to Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Saifullah Paracha, a Pakistani businessman, who was the oldest prisoner at the notorious US detention center Guantanamo Bay, returned to Pakistan on Saturday after more than 18 years, the Foreign Ministry confirmed.

In 2003, US intelligence operatives arrested Paracha, 73, in Thailand on charges of having links to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. The US government approved his release in May last year.

"Mr. Saif Ullah Paracha, a Pakistani national, who was detained in Guantanamo Bay, has been released and arrived in his homeland on Saturday,” said the Foreign Ministry in a brief statement, without providing further details.

"The Foreign Ministry completed an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate repatriation of Mr. Paracha. We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family," the statement concluded.

A review board established by former US President Barack Obama to try to prevent the release of prisoners who authorities believed would re-engage in terrorist activities upon their release, determined that Paracha was "not a continuing threat" to the US.

His only son, Uzair Paracha, was also imprisoned in the US on suspicion of assisting suspected militants in entering the country using false documents.

He was released and returned to Pakistan after the US government decided not to seek a new trial in 2020, after serving more than 16 years in prison.

The Karachi-based businessman, who was involved in multiple sectors, including construction, also owned a business and property in New York.

His American-Jewish business partner was reportedly forced by the CIA to invite Paracha to Bangkok.

He was never charged with a crime, but he was accused of facilitating at least two al-Qaeda terror group members involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Paracha, who has diabetes and a heart condition, had also denied any involvement in terrorism, claiming he had no idea the men he was dealing with were members of the terror group.

He was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a federal court in New York in 2005, but those witness accounts were thrown out by a judge in March 2020.