WASHINGTON: A 73-year-old Pakistani, who is the oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, was notified on Monday that he has been approved for release after more than 16 years in custody at the US base in Cuba, his lawyer said. Saifullah Paracha, who has been held on suspicion of ties to Al Qaeda but never charged with a crime, was cleared by the prisoner review board along with two other men, said Shelby Sullivan-Bennis, who represented him at his hearing in November. As is customary, the notification did not provide detailed reasoning for the decision and concluded only that Paracha is not a continuing threat to the US, Sullivan-Bennis said.