{"id":14801,"date":"2020-05-28T10:35:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T10:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/?post_type=client&p=14801"},"modified":"2021-07-20T09:54:51","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T09:54:51","slug":"saifullah-paracha","status":"publish","type":"client","link":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/client\/saifullah-paracha\/","title":{"rendered":"Saifullah Paracha"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s like being alive in your own grave.<\/p>Saifullah Paracha<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is how Saifullah Paracha has described Guant\u00e1namo Bay, where he has been held there since 2004. He has never been charged with a crime, and never been given a trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saifullah is a 73 year old father of four. Saifullah was born in Pakistan but moved to the US when he was 24 to study at the New York Institute of Technology. He met his wife, started a family, started a business, and lived happily in New York for 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n

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51,663 signatures<\/div>\r\n\r\n
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Guant\u00e1namo: Add your name to shut it down<\/a><\/h6>\n\n \n Add my name<\/a>\n\n <\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 1986, Saifullah and his family moved home to Pakistan \u2013 to Karachi. There, Saifullah set-up a production house that sold original programming to Pakistani media networks, and a garment-buying house with a New York-based partner that facilitated shipments between Pakistan and the US. If you\u2019d like to read more about Saifullah\u2019s life and background, we recommend this Guardian Long Read<\/a> from 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saifullah was on his way to Thailand for a meeting with buyers for the retail giant Kmart, in the summer of 2003. He landed in Bangkok, but he never made it to the meeting. At the time, as part of the post-9\/11 so-called \u2018war on terror\u2019 US authorities were indiscriminately rounding-up hundreds of Muslim men \u2013 often on the basis of hearsay, mistaken identity, and vast bounties. Saifullah was one of these men. He was picked-up at Bangkok airport in an FBI-led operation and rendered to Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wasn\u2019t charged with any crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Bagram, Saifuallah \u2013 like hundreds of other prisoners \u2013 was tortured. And it was there that he suffered the second of three heart attacks. Eventually, in 2004, Saifullah was rendered to Guant\u00e1namo, where he has since suffered a further heart attack. Now 73, he suffers from a host of medical problems\u2014some natural for an aging man and others, parting gifts of his abuse in U.S. detention. These include: diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, angina pectoris, cardiac diastolic dysfunction, hyperlipidemia, diverticulosis, allergic rhinitis, gout, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saifullah has become what is known as a \u2018forever prisoner\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no charges, no trial, and limited political will from the US government to release him, Saifullah is one of 31 men who could die at the prison rather than see his family again.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t want that to happen. We are fighting to make sure that it doesn\u2019t, and to close the prison down for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UPDATE: Saifullah was cleared for release<\/a> on May 18, 2021. He is currently still in Guant\u00e1namo, waiting to be released. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":17565,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-14801","client","type-client","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSaifullah Paracha - Reprieve<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/client\/saifullah-paracha\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saifullah Paracha - Reprieve\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s like being alive in your own grave. 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