‘Last’ jailed Pakistani returns from GTMO

ISLAMABAD: Saifullah Paracha, the “last” Pakistani national who was held at Guantanamo Bay for almost 20 years, returned to his home country on Saturday after his release from the infamous US detention camp in Cuba, media reports said.

Saifullah, now 74, was taken into custody from Bangkok in 2003 on suspicion of ties with Al Qaeda. Pakistan’s Samaa News earlier described Paracha as the “last Pakistani” in Guantanamo.

Pakistan foreign ministry said Saifullah was released from the high-security prison after an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate repatriation. “We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family,” the Pakistan foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantanamo, GTMO. The prison, which was opened by the then US president George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects captured overseas after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, came to symbolize harsh detention practices that made the US face some serious accusations of torture. Over the past few years, the inmate population has come down.