Oldest Guantanamo Bay prisoner released

A Pakistani known for being the oldest detainee at the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba was released to his home country yesterday, the South Asian country's foreign ministry said. The secretive US military prison once housed hundreds of suspected militants captured by US forces during America's so-called "war on terror" following the 9/11 attacks by al-Qaeda in 2001. Businessman Saif Ullah Paracha was detained in 2003 in Thailand and accused of financing the jihadist group, but he has maintained his innocence and claimed a love for the United States. Like most detainees at Guantanamo, Paracha -– aged 75 or 76 -– was never formally charged and had little legal power to challenge his detention.