Uzair Paracha | |
Native Name: | عزیر پراچہ |
Native Name Lang: | Urdu |
Birth Date: | January 7, 1980 |
Birth Place: | Karachi, Pakistan |
Nationality: | Pakistani |
Citizenship: | Pakistan, U.S. |
Education: | Institute of Business Administration |
Notable Works: | Secular Stagnation |
Criminal Charge: | providing material support to al-Qaeda |
Conviction Penalty: | 30 years in prison, voided after 16 years |
Conviction Status: | Conviction voided July 3, 2018 |
Uzair Paracha (born January 7, 1980)[1] is a Pakistani citizen previously convicted of providing material support to al-Qaeda by a court in New York City in 2005.[2] He received a 30-year prison sentence which was voided 18 years later, with his judge stating that letting his conviction stand was a "manifest injustice". In March 2020 the American government gave up on taking Uzair to trial again and he was released and repatriated after being imprisoned for 17 years.[3]
He is the son of Saifullah Paracha, a Pakistan citizen who was held by the United States in Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.[4] [3] Uzair was born in Pakistan on January 7, 1980.[1] His mother Farhat Paracha was a student of sociology at New York University. Uzair Paracha himself attended Rainbow Montessori school in Brooklyn sometime before age 5.[1] As a teen he attended B. V. S. Parsi High School in Karachi, Pakistan.[1] Paracha subsequently obtained a degree in business administration from Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi in 2003.
At the time of arrest in March 2003, he was a Permanent resident of the United States.[5] He was initially held as a material witness in the investigation against al-Qaeda after the September 11 attacks. He was later charged with helping alleged al-Qaeda operative Majid Khan (Guantanamo Bay detainee 10020) obtain legal status in U.S. fraudulently,[5] Uzair claims he did not know that Khan was an alleged al Qaeda operative. During his trial he refused a court settlement of 5 to 8 years in prison.[6] In November 2005, he was convicted of helping Khan.[2] In July 2006, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.[7] He was serving his sentence at FCI Terre Haute until his conviction was deemed void.[8]
Over 15 years after his arrest, Uzair's conviction was deemed void on July 3, 2018 by Judge Sidney H. Stein based on newly discovered statements made by Ammar al-Baluchi, Majid Khan, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, bringing his involvement and intentions into question. Stein, who oversaw Paracha’s trial and imposed his sentence, called it a “manifest injustice” to let the conviction stand and granted Paracha’s request, made in November 2008, for a new trial.
He was freed on March 13, 2020 and willingly repatriated to Pakistan, giving up his resident status.[3]