Guantanamo’s oldest inmate Saifullah Paracha freed after 19 years | News

Businessman Saifullah Paracha, who was arrested in 2003 and accused of financing al-Qaeda, was never charged like most prisoners.

The oldest inmate at the United States-run Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba Saifullah Paracha has been released to his home country Pakistan after nearly 20 years of detention without trial, the South Asian country’s foreign ministry said.

“The Foreign Ministry completed an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate the repatriation of Mr Paracha,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

“We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family.”

Businessman Paracha was arrested in 2003 in Thailand and accused of financing the armed group, but he has maintained his innocence and claimed a love for the US.

In May, the US approved Paracha’s release concluding only that he was “not a continuing…