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| U.S. lawyer asks Pakistan to help free Gitmo inmate |
| 2008-06-03 |
| An American lawyer pleaded on Monday for the Pakistan government to intervene on behalf of a prisoner being held at the U.S. detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Zachary Katznelson, a senior counsel for Reprieve, a charity that campaigns for prisoners facing injustice, made the plea on behalf of Saifullah Paracha, a 60-year-old Karachi-based businessman, who has been held in detention for almost 5 years. Suspected of having contacts with al Qaeda, Paracha was detained in Bangkok in July 2003 and taken to Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2004. "High-level political intervention is the only hope for Mr. Paracha to receive justice," Katznelson told a news conference in Karachi. The lawyer said he had met Paracha several times at Guantanamo. "Mr Paracha, who is suffering from heart disease, is kept in a steel-made cell for 22 hours. Only two hours he is taken outside in a bigger cage. This is what the Americans call recreation for him," said Katznelson. Katznelson said Paracha's case has been pending in U.S. courts for more than three years because of delay in proceedings sought by U.S. authorities. |
| Posted by:Fred |