(MCCLATCHY) The Guantánamo parole board has rejected a plea for freedom from the prison’s oldest war-on-terror captive, a 68-year-old Pakistani businessman, citing the prisoner’s past ties to al-Qaida and declaring him too dangerous for release.
Saifullah Paracha went before the national security board March 8, saying his preference was to be rejoin family in Pakistan or go to the United States, where he lived from 1970 to 1986.
Instead, the board cited his “refusal to take responsibility for his involvement with al-Qaida” and his “refusal to distinguish between legitimate and nefarious business contacts.”