Dr Aafia Siddiqui – The Prisoner 650

A startling new development in the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui has emerged following the recent release of a British resident from Guantanamo.

Torture victim Binyam Mohamed says he witnessed the detention of Dr Aafiya at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan in a testimony which contradicts the official position forwarded by the US Government that she and her children were not in US custody prior to July 2008.

In support of this new development, Imran Khan said:

“There is a new administration in Washington now, one which we were told had a full desire for transparency – it was very much part of Barack Obama’s election pledge. In the spirit of this new era, I also want to know the extent of Pakistan’s co-operation in the involvement of Prisoner 650 and Dr Aafiya Siddiqui, especially if they now appear to be
one in the same.

And once more I am calling for information on the full extent of the innocent victims caught up in this scandal of the Disappeared, especially with regards to sisters who are referred to as female enemy combatants including prisoner 650.

In addition, it is time the US went on record and revealed exactly how many female enemy combatants the US has in its custody and exactly where they are and from which countries.

Justice has a new meaning and significance in Pakistan these days, and all that we ask is that these female detainees and others be allowed to prove their innocence in a court of law. This is in no way protecting terrorists or those who carry out acts of terrorism.”

his latest twist in the dramatic case was revealed during a meeting hosted by British peer Nazir Ahmed in the House of Lords in London on Tuesday, March 31.

Lord Ahmed is now demanding the immediate return to Pakistan of the mother-of-three and urged the Pakistan government to directly intervene with the US to bring about a swift repatriation.

After a private viewing of the forthcoming documentary In Search of Prisoner 650 by journalist Yvonne Ridley, the former guantanamo detainee told Ridley he was “100 per cent sure” that the female prisoner he saw in Bagram is Dr Aafiya Siddiqui.

He makes his startling claims during his first ever television interview on the international satellite Press TV which goes out at 8.07pm (in UK)on Thursday (00.07am Friday Pakistan time) on Ridley’s weekly political show The Agenda.

Ridley started her quest for the truth about Prisoner 650 in Pakistan last July and sought the help of the country’s media with the help and support of Imran Khan who organised a press conference at his party’s Islamabad HQ.

Asim Qureshi from the international human rights organisation Cage Prisoners said: “With evidence continually mountig to suggest she was abducted from Karachi in March 2003, the regurgitation of the same lies cannot be allowed to continue, especially in light of her prosecution in the US.”

Former Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg who also spent time in Bagram detention facility praised Binyam Mohamed for coming forward to make his statement. Begg said: “After my release I discovered females were indeed held by US forces in Bagram and elsewhere. One of them is Aafiya Siddiqui. Our suspicions were confirmed when  Binyam Mohamed told Cageprisoners during an exclusive interview that he had seen her whilst he was held in Bagram.

“It is time the US military faced up to what they have done to this poor woman and her children.”

During the international press conference, the following statement from Imran Khan was released.

“It is obvious that Binyam Mohamed’s personal eye witness account of the woman he saw during his own incarceration in Bagram should be taken seriously.

He says he is “100 percent certain” that the woman detainee he knew as Prisoner 650 is Dr Aafiya Siddiqui. He drew this conclusion after seeing photographs and images of Dr Siddiqui during a private screening of Yvonne Ridley’s documentary In Search of Prisoner 650.

Binyam Mohamed is a man who has endured horrific torture in Pakistan, Morocco and in Bagram – and yet despite enormous pressure from the US, he has continually refused to lie or give false accounts, even in exchange for his freedom. We know this to be true because of the recent release of secret documents from the British High Court.

Therefore, I think it is fair to say, that the word of  Binyam Mohamed can be trusted over that of the BUSH administration which has been exposed continually for its lies and deceptions which became its hallmark during its War on Terror.

As you know, I and Tehreek-e-Insaf, have been calling for full transparency since Dr Siddiqui first disappeared. After Yvonne Ridley came to Islamabad in July 2008 to tell me about her concerns and fears about the woman she described as the ‘Grey Lady of Bagram’, the US Administration continually misled us in our attempts to discove r the true

identity of Prisoner 650 and initially even denied her existence.

* The documentary film In Search of Prisoner 650 is broadcast several times throughout Sunday, April 5 with the second part going out on Monday, April 6. See Press TV schedules for full details at http://www.draafia.org/2009/04/01/ex-gitmo-detainee-reveals-identity-of-prisoner-650-as-dr-siddiqui/

Regards & Thank you Rabia Zia

UK Coordinator for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

ukpti@insaf.pk

www.ptiuk.org