Father: At Gitmo for 15 years alleged crimes; Son: In
NY prison for 15 years
(Justice
for son; Father allegations only)
This story from
The UK Guardian here. The introduction follows in part:
Saifullah Paracha, the oldest prisoner (age 71) in Guantánamo Bay (father pictured
above), will probably die in detention without ever being charged.
Noteworthy: The father at 71, is the oldest prisoner at Gitmo where he
has been held since 2004.
He has never had a chance to see the full extent of
what he has been accused of, let alone properly defend himself in court.
He has
not been tried by a military commission, but nor has he been cleared for
release by a review board.
DOD personnel say: “There are no charges against him at this time. We cannot speculate
about his future.”
His son, Uzair Paracha (also pictured above), and now age 38, is currently
in a in a New York prison some 1,432 miles away. He is serving a 30-year prison
sentence on charges of providing material support for terrorism by helping an
al-Qaida member.
Back in Pakistan, their family
have become pariahs, abandoned by all but a tiny circle of friends and
relatives. Both father and son insist they are innocent, claiming that they did
not realize that the men they were helping were al-Qaida operatives, since
those men had assumed false identities.
In separate interrogations,
the alleged al-Qaida members they are accused of helping have said the same
thing, claiming that the Parachas had no knowledge of who they were involved
with.
Now for 15 years, father and son
have been held in different spheres of the U.S. justice system, bound by the
allegations against them but no justice according to U.S. standards.
They like other long-term
detainees are called “Guantánamo’s Forever
Prisoners” have receded from public consciousness.
Even in Pakistan, they have
been largely forgotten, except as a rarely mentioned cautionary tale of how
urbane, educated men could be involved in militancy. It is almost as if, having
disappeared into U.S. prisons, father and son ceased to exist as anything but a
statistic of the war on terror, forever labelled as terrorists.
But that convenient narrative ignores one basic
question: Did they even commit a
crime such as the yet unproven allegation of aiding al-Qaida. That question
still has not been answered all these years.
My 2 cents: I will not attempt in any fashion to support or
defend either father or son if they are truly guilty as alleged, but not having
been tried and convicted that becomes problematic.
This example is a stain on the whole detainee “Justice under law concept”
that we Americans cherish.
They should be properly charged and tried – 15 years waiting without
due process and justice for them or our country is indeed a black eye on our
military justice system. We would never hold a man in detention for 15 years
with only allegations hanging over him without due process.
This case is no
exception to that rule of law.
Stay tuned – this will be updated as events unfold.
Thanks for stopping by.
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