Uzair Paracha


Uzair Paracha is a Pakistani citizen previously convicted of providing material support to al-Qaeda by a court in New York City in 2005. 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". He was freed on the 16th of March, 2020 after papers were filed with the court the previous weekend, dismissing his charges.

Early life

He is the son of Saifullah Paracha who is a citizen of Pakistan currently held by the United States in Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He was born in Pakistan on January 7, 1980. His mother Farhat Paracha was a student of sociology at New York University. Paracha himself attended Rainbow Montessori school in Brooklyn sometime before age 5. As a teen he attended B. V. S. Parsi High School in Karachi Pakistan. Paracha subsequently obtained a degree in business administration from IBA, Karachi in 2003.

Arrest and conviction

At the time of arrest in March 2003, he was a Permanent resident of the United States. 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 obtain legal status in U.S. fraudulently. In November 2005, he was convicted of helping Khan. In July 2006, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. He was serving his sentence at FCI Terre Haute until his conviction deemed void.

Voided Conviction

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 the 13th of March, 2020 and willingly repatriated to Pakistan, giving up his resident status.