FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 3, 2022
CONTACT: Rev. T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and 202-547-1920

Release of Guantanamo’s Oldest Detainee

Washington, DC - On Saturday, October 29, the Pentagon announced that after 19 years in U.S. custody without ever being charged with a crime, Saifullah Paracha was repatriated to Pakistan from the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Mr. Paracha was held by the U.S. government since July 2003 and at Guantanamo since 2004. After never being charged with a crime, in May 2021 he was cleared for release from Guantanamo.

We are glad the governments of the United States and Pakistan negotiated his repatriation and return to his family. At the age of 75 and the oldest detainee at Guantanamo at the time of his departure, Mr. Paracha has numerous medical conditions and we pray that he will receive the medical care he needs.

Of the thirty-five Muslim men who are still held at Guantanamo, twenty have been cleared for transfer through review processes.

Responding to this latest step by the Biden Administration to honor its commitment to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture said, “We are grateful for the Biden Administration’s commitment to take this step toward closing Guantanamo prison and celebrate the return of Saifullah Paracha to his family in Pakistan. We applaud the work of the U.S. government and other countries in repatriating or resettling the men cleared for transfer out of the prison.”

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, more than 300 religious organizations have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations and local congregations.

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