Oldest prisoner freed from Guantanamo, returned to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD — A 75-year-old from Pakistan who was the oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center was released and returned to Pakistan on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad and the U.S. Defense Department said.
Saifullah Paracha was reunited with his family after more than 17 years in custody in the U.S. base in Cuba, the ministry added.
Paracha had been held on suspicion of ties to al-Qaida since 2003, but was never charged with a crime. Last year in May, he was notified that he had been approved for release. He was cleared by the prisoner review board, along with two other men, in November 2020.
Paracha, who had lived in the United States and owned property in New York City, was a wealthy businessman in Pakistan. Authorities alleged he was an al-Qaida “facilitator” who helped two of the conspirators in the Sept. 11 plot with a financial transaction.
He has maintained that he didn’t know they were al-Qaida and denied any involvement in terrorism.
The U.S. captured Paracha in Thailand in 2003 and held him at Guantanamo since September 2004. Washington has long asserted that it can hold detainees indefinitely without charge under the international laws of war.
In November 2020, Paracha, who suffers from a number of ailments, including diabetes and a heart condition, made his eighth appearance before the review board, which was established under President Barack Obama to try to prevent the release of prisoners who authorities believed might engage in anti-U.S. hostilities upon their release from Guantanamo.
Fighting in Congo: Rebels seized two major towns in eastern Congo after fierce fighting Saturday, doubling the territory they now control, a civil society leader and residents said.
Fighting between the Congolese army and M23 rebels intensified in the vicinity of Rutshuru Center and Kiwanja, with heavy gunfire breaking out in the morning.
John Banyene, president of the local civil society, said the rebels now control the two towns about 40 miles from the regional capital, Goma.
However, there was no immediate confirmation from Congolese authorities or the military on the reported seizure of the two towns.
Daniel Subuka, a Kiwanja resident contacted by telephone by AP, said he saw well-armed M23 rebels making their way into Kiwanja and others heading toward Rutshuru Centre.
Iran protests: The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard issued a new warning on Saturday to anti-government protesters, even as demonstrations continued in cities and university campuses across the country for the sixth straight week.
Also on Saturday, authorities reported that the gunman who killed 15 people at a major Shiite holy site in southern Iran earlier last week died in a hospital from injuries sustained during his arrest. Tehran has not disclosed details about the man who carried out Wednesday’s attack on Shah Cheragh in Shiraz, Iran’s second-holiest Shiite shrine.
The militant Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the shooting. But Iran’s government has tried to blame the attack on the largely peaceful protests
roiling the country, without offering evidence.
Amaq, the militant group’s media arm, released a video Saturday that purportedly shows the Shiraz attacker pledging allegiance to the group.
At the funeral for victims of the shooting attack, the chief of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, appealed to Iranians to stop protesting, and also warned that the demonstrations could ruin young activists’ futures. “Do not go to the streets anymore!” Salami said Saturday.
Record drug seizure: Hong Kong customs seized 2 tons of liquid methamphetamine in the city’s biggest-ever meth bust, authorities said Saturday.
The drugs, which were seized Oct. 23, had been concealed in bottles labeled as coconut water in a cargo shipment that arrived in Hong Kong by sea, according to a government statement.
The haul is estimated to be worth $140 million.
Authorities found that 1,800 bottles out of the total 7,700 bottles contained liquid meth.
Authorities are still investigating the case, and no arrests have been made.
The stash of drugs was bound for Australia, and had been shipped from Mexico via Hong Kong, according to authorities who spoke Saturday at a news conference.
Whale protection: The federal government has outlined a strategy to try to protect an endangered species of whale while also developing offshore wind power off the East Coast.
President Joe Biden’s administration has made a priority of encouraging offshore wind along the Atlantic coast as the U.S. pursues clean energy sources. Those waters are also home to the declining North Atlantic right whale,
which numbers about 340 in the world.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released a draft plan this month to conserve the whales while allowing for the building of wind projects. The agencies said the ongoing efforts to save the whales and create more renewable energy can coexist.
The development of offshore wind is going on along the migratory routes of the whales, which travel from waters off Georgia and Florida to those of New England and Canada every year. That potentially leaves the whales vulnerable to disturbance or injury. The agencies said they plan to provide offshore wind developers with guidance about mitigation measures to help navigate the regulatory process as part of the whale strategy.
Poland nuclear plant:
Warsaw has chosen the U.S. government and Westinghouse to build the central European country’s first nuclear power plant, part of an effort to burn less coal and gain greater energy independence.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said late Friday on Twitter that Poland would use the “reliable, safe technology” of the Westinghouse Electric Company for the plant in Pomerania province near the Baltic Sea coast. The exact location remains to be identified.
Poland is planning to spend $40 billion to build two nuclear power plants with three reactors each. Officials said the first should start producing electricity in 2033, with the second launching in 2043.
Poland, a country with some of the worst air pollution in Europe, has planned for decades to build a nuclear power plant to replace its aging coal-fired plants.