On Cap and Ajrak Cultural Day, Sindhi demand the release of a Pakistani Dr. Aifia Siddiqui, incarcerated in the United States for a false allegedly attempting to kill her interrogators while in Afghanistan. Karachi, Pakistan. 19th November 2011

 Eid al-Fitr, 2011/1432

Today we are waiting. We have had a lot of days like this since Aafia and her children disappeared in 2003. There might be some good news. There might be some bad news. There might be no news at all. That is just the way it is some days.

We have to take the time this Eid al-Fitr to acknowledge some special groups of people.

Aafia’s supporters in Pakistan and around the world who marched in peaceful demonstrations in the brutal heat and humidity of August, while fasting, to remind everyone that neither Aafia nor her missing son Suleman have been forgotten. Faith, resolve, and courage will always make powerful people nervous. Especially this year.

Aafia probably does not know about your efforts yet, but you have made her proud. She has repeatedly said she does not want people committing violence in her name. By marching peacefully you have helped her maintain her dignity, the one thing her captors cannot take from her.

And those of you from all over the world who responded to our request to send Aafia a Ramadan postcard. Many of you went beyond that simple action and Tweeted, posted, and blogged our request: A postcard, a stamp, and a couple of computer clicks that didn’t take you more than a few seconds. An act so simple that it was something you could have easily done while breaking your fast.

We do not know if Aafia was allowed to receive any of these postcards. Her mail is restricted in an unpredictable manner. If she was allowed to receive your cards you gave her great joy. If not, you reminded those holding her that they are being judged for their actions.

The prophet Buy accutane online Issa (Jesus) is quoted in the Holy Bible:

“I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.”*
*(Matthew, 25:45 New Living Translation, 2007)

For your acts of kindness and support we cannot begin to express our gratitude.

Eid Mubarak from Aafia’s family.

SOURCE : Freeaafia.org

The fading Swiss neutrality, which once had a sobering influence world-wide and since Switzerland’s entry to the United Nations a decade ago has faded, shows the same limitations that many nations face when confronted with brute force. The TTP demands the release of Aafia Siddiqui, considered by many in Pakistan to be innocent. Aafia Siddiqui is a neuroscientist, who graduated from MIT, Boston, and later got a doctorate from Brandeis University. She is now incarcerated in Texas for 86 years, convicted for assault and attempted murder, among other charges.

Aafia Siddiqui’s biography has a remarkable similarity to many others who lead everyday normal lives, and in some cases extremely intelligent and successful ones, but at some stage find themselves caught up in a whirlpool of emotions that inexorably draw them into a maelstorm of blind hate with no escape. A overwhelming sense of being wronged personally and as a community has a path that often ends in deep seated violence. Though she was not directly involved in mass-murders, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the chief planner of 9/11, is purported to have, under torture, mentioned her as an al-Queda operative.

In the meantime, Switzerland is powerless to exert any influence on Pakistan or the TTP. Reports mention that Pakistan attempted to barter a deal for Aaifa Siddiqui’s release when Raymond Davis was arrested. The US is known to be working together with Switzerland, and it may well be that money is paid to free the two, as was done in the case of the CIA operative, Raymond Davis.

SOURCE : Groundreport.com

Sohail Warrich Presents a fresh episode of Aik Din Geo Ke Saath on Geo News Talk With Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui.

Part-1

Part-2

All IN 1 Part

Since the release of The Guantanamo Files in April 2011 by Wikileaks, there have been a number of stories written in relation to those detained at the infamous base. One of the stories that received some mainstream coverage though, was that of Aafia Siddiqui. However, the coverage that was received, completely missed the point.

During Aafia’s years of disappearance, a number of allegations were made against her by the US, allegations that were circled within the mainstream on a consistent basis. Among the more ridiculous statements that were made included references to her purportedly having run conflict diamonds out of Liberia in the summer of 2001 in order to fund Al Qaeda operations. The sad fact remains, that very few have considered the ludicrous allegations that have been levelled against her.

The most important point to note, however, is that the US refused to prosecute Aafia on any terrorism related offences as part of their case. They started the case making that point, and references to terrorism did not enter until the judge chose to enhance her sentence claiming that he felt she had links.

But who wrote the narrative regarding these links, it was the US government. All the Wikileaks cables do, is to show a distorted view of Aafia’s case. If one is to look at her timeline of activity according to her lawyers and supporters, there was no time for her to be involved with any kind of Al Qaeda related activity.

Like many foreign Muslims living in the US after 9/11, Aafia Siddiqui and her family became suspects, and thus any kind of activity they may have been involved in, became suspicious.

Background

Within days of the 9/11 attacks, the FBI launched the PENTTBOM investigation – thousands of foreign Muslims were detained and placed through vigorous checks and, in many cases, detained for long periods without charge. The wide net of suspicion was cast and it soon became difficult for many Muslims to live in the US due to harassment they faced by the FBI and other authorities. As a result, Siddiqui and her husband returned to Pakistan.

In 2002 Aafia and her husband returned to the US where they separated and were eventually divorced on 21 October 2002. An argument between Aafia and her husband at her parent’s home resulted in a heart attack and the eventual death of her father. Within a few weeks of this incident she gave birth to her youngest child.

On 25 December 2002 Aafia Siddiqui returned to the US in order to look for work in the Baltimore area where her sister Fowzia now lived – she had job offers lined up at John Hopkins and SUNY. She remained in the US until 2 January 2003 – having used the time in order to search for work.

In March 2003, Aafia Siddiqui disappeared and there was very little evidence as to where she and her children may be.

Disappearance between March 2003 – July 2008

During much of this period of disappearance, there was very little in the way of evidence as to where Aafia Siddiqui and her children were, or indeed where they were being kept.

According to Pakistani officials who commented on the case of Siddiqui’s disappearance for the government, they had no knowledge of her whereabouts and were officially still looking for her. A senior Pakistani security official explained to the Association Press that they were attempting to locate her but that she had gone underground.

On 8 August 2008, the Daily Times newspaper in Pakistan made reference to documents that existed which confirmed that they Military Intelligence of Pakistan had detained Aafia Siddiqui and her three children on 30 March 2003 and, that they had been handed over to the FBI.

In March 2010 – a senior security official from Buy Doxycycline Online Pharmacy No Prescription Needed Pakistan confirmed to Cageprisoners that an internal investigation into the Pakistani government had revealed that Pakistan was involved with her detention in 2003.

During the period of her disappearance, the FBI released a seeking information poster relating to her questioning in 2004. She appeared on the poster with six men.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller III on 26 May 2004 made a public appeal to the American people in helping the law enforcement agencies to find six men and one women with ties to terrorism. The one women that was shown in the pictures was Aafia Siddiqui. Ashcroft specifically commented that, “credible intelligence from multiple sources indicate that al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States in the next few months.” He further added that the seven, including Siddiqui, “…should all be considered armed and dangerous.”

In an article written by Robert Fisk for the Independent on 19/03/2010, Aafia Siddiqui’s uncle, Dr Shams Hassan Faruqi allegedly made the claim that he saw Aafia free in 2008 before the incident in Ghazni and further in an article in the New York Times that he had submitted an affidavit to the Pakistani authorities about her to that effect.

Dr Faruqi has now released an officially signed declaration to negate such speculation within the media:

“With reference to the news item published in the Urdu daily ‘Jang’ Rawalpindi of 8 March 2010 on some news published in New York Times, regarding my submission of an affidavit to Pakistani authorities about my niece Dr Aafia Siddiqui. I hereby declare that I have not given any statement to anybody including the concerned or unconcerned government authorities about Dr Aafia. The news published in the New York Times to this effect is totally false and baseless.

I further declare that Dr has never requested me to get established contact with the Pakistani or Afghani Taliban.”

US transfer of jurisdiction

According to the US indictment, Aafia Siddiqui was extradited (although no extradition process was used) to the US from Afghanistan for allegedly, “unlawfully, willingly, and knowingly…[prepared to]use a deadly and dangerous weapon and…forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, and interfere.” Also she is alleged to have attempted to kill officers and employees of the United States.

The above two counts of criminality Buy Inderal online without prescription serve to act as one of the most confounding conundrums of the eight years of the War on Terror. Siddiqui was allegedly found in Afghanistan, attempting to attack an Afghani compound (at least according to the Afghanis) – thus, she should be tried for committing a war crime in the arena of conflict, or she should be tried for attempting to commit an act of terrorism, or even for having a child soldier with her. The internationally serious crimes of terrorism and war crimes were completely ignored by the US in their indictment of Siddiqui. They have indicted her for two far lesser offences and, in a jurisdiction which is outside of the country where the incident took place. Aafia Siddiqui was not extradited to the US, no such formal process was used rather she was placed on a rendition flight without being given the opportunity to challenge her transfer.

Further, this is one of the first times that a non-US citizen has not been designated an ‘enemy combatant’ and detained at one of the many bases around the world. Why was Aafia Siddiqui sent to the US mainland when no foreign detainee before her was treated in such a way? Why was Siddiqui not sent to Guantanamo Bay?

Considering the list of allegations that have been levied against Siddiqui over the last five years, there was not a single reference to her involvement in international terrorism during her indictment.

Questions must be raised as to why such seemingly important points have been completely ignored for the sake of indicting on lesser offences? It is indeed these last points that are so troublesome for those who have studied this case in detail. They do not correspond at all with the history of the case.

The real questions relating to Aafia Siddiqui’s case are not being asked. When an entire background story was established to portray her as a terrorist, why was she never tried or indeed even accused of being one before a court of law?

SOURCE: Cageprisoners.com

The report, Aafia Siddiqui: Just the Facts, reveals shocking new evidence that contradicts official statements from governments of both Pakistan and the United States that Dr. Siddiqui was not detained in their custody prior to her arrest in 2008. IJN has obtained a secret audio recording of a senior Pakistani police official who admits he was personally involved in the arrest of Dr. Siddiqui and her children eight years ago. This account is corroborated by substantial documentary evidence and witness testimony, which all points to the same conclusion—that Dr. Siddiqui and her three children were initially arrested in March 2003 with the knowledge and cooperation of local authorities in Karachi, Pakistan, and subsequently interrogated by Pakistani military intelligence (ISI) as well as U.S. intelligence agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

This shameful new revelation will not only establish a stage for holding specific political actors accountable for the grave injustice done to Dr. Siddiqui and her family, but should serve as a keystone for repairing the severed diplomatic ties between Pakistan and the United States. In a letter to Interior Minister, Rehman Malik,  last week, IJN Executive Director, Tina M. Foster, urged the government of Pakistan to take immediate action to demand Dr. Siddiqui’s repatriation, while the U.S. government is seeking the return of the Lahore shooter.   In it, Ms. Foster stated:

“The safety and security of all Pakistani citizens is compromised when U.S. government agents can kill civilians on Pakistani soil with impunity, while the daughter of the nation (who has never caused harm or injury to anyone) languishes in a Texas prison for a crime she didn’t commit.   Justice demands that Raymond Davis not be repatriated Buy erythromycin online to the United States without securing the return of Dr. Siddiqui to Pakistan. The path is now clear.  The only question that remains is whether the government of Pakistan is willing to take it.”

To access report documents, please follow the links provided below:

Aafia Siddiqui: Just the Facts [Appendix A: Certified Transcript of Secret Audio Recording]    View /   Download 51K    (Internet Explorer link)

Aafia Siddiqui: Just the Facts [Full Report]    View /   Download 134KB    (Internet Explorer link)

Aafia Siddiqui: Just the Facts [Executive Summary]   View /   Download 55K    (Internet Explorer link)

 IJN Press Release

SOURCE : Ijnetwork.org

The stories of Siddiqui’s disappearance and  her recent trial in the US are too convoluted to easily summarize.  For purposes of the story now emerging — the possible appearance of Siddiqui’s daughter – the bare bones are that, after returning to Pakistan from the US, Aafia Siddiqui was named by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in his US-run torture interrogations.  Shortly thereafter, in March, 2003, Siddiqui disappeared. Her three children –  oldest son Ahmed, 4-year-old Maryam and her infant son, Suleman — disappeared with her.

After seven years, Siddiqui suddenly reappeared in Afghanistan, where the US alleged she was involved in the attempted shooting of an American soldier as she was being detained for interrogation. When Aafia was  apprehended in Afghanistan, a boy was with her. The US handed off the boy to Afghan intelligence while they shipped Siddiqui to the US for trial.

Pakistan became involved diplomatically over the child and demanded his return. He was handed over to Siddiqui’s family in Pakistan, but her other children have remained missing. There has been controversy in Pakistan over the status of the boy and whether he truly was Siddiqui’s son or not.

Last weekend a girl approximately 12 years old, who spoke only English and Persian and claimed her name was  “Fatima,” was dropped off in front of the home of Siddiqui’s sister.  Some stories indicate an American named “John” may have been with her. Dawn reported a senior policeman described that the girl was:

… wearing a collar “bearing the address of the house in case she wandered off”.

That was last week.

This week, April 11 marks the start of a visit by Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, to the US.  He had been under pressure from the Pakistani press, Senate, courts and Siddiqui’s family (who have been highly critical of Gilani) to take up the case of Aafia Siddiqui in his meetings with the administration scheduled for this week. Today, as those meetings are about to begin, Pakistan’s Interior Minster, Rehman Malik  has confirmed that the young girl left in the street with a Buy amoxil online collar on her neck is Maryam.*

While this stands in contrast with earlier statements by Siddiqui’s sister that “the finger prints of teenage girl were not matched with the prints of her niece, Mar[y]am” the Interior Ministry’s statement is based upon DNA testing. Those results reveal that Siddiqui’s ex-husband, Amjad Khan, “cannot be excluded” as the father of the two children:

“The DNA profile obtained from blood samples of Maryam Khan alias Fatima, Ahmad Muhammad – her brother – share the STR Genetic Markers with the DNA profile obtained from blood sample of Dr Amjad Khan. Based on the DNA analysis, Dr Amjad cannot be excluded as the biological father of Maryam alias Fatima,” concludes the National Forensic Science Agency’s report, an exclusive copy of which is available with Daily Times. The laboratory is run by the Interior Ministry.

My online search for a US  source discussing the story originally came up with a reference in a WaPo story, buried at the end of the story on Pakistani forces battling Taliban. But the link for the cached reference (“Separately, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said a Pakistani girl left outside a house in Karachi on Sunday was the daughter of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani…”) no longer includes that reference.

In any event, this story about the possible return of Maryam had been getting cautious play throughout the middle east when the girl appeared, last week. Now, with the Interior confirmation that the girl is Maryam, the story is been receiving much more play. Some headlines (and a Pakistan Senator) assert that the girl had been held the last seven years at Bagram.

The Pakistan Ledger (caveat:  not necessarily an unbiased or hard core news site) ran as it’s headline, “US Bagram Air Force base girl prisoner, 12 released” an also ran the information on the DNA report

According to reports, the girls’ DNA matched that of Ahmed, Dr Aafia’s son. The report has been handed over to the investigation police.

Several reports, including the Ledger,  are mentioning that the release of the young girl might be linked  to intervention by Afghan President and Obama ex-bff, Hamid Karzai.

Mr. Karzai had told the family that if no questions were asked, he would return the child to the family.

From another report,

Terming the visit of Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, a key factor in making the efforts of the government and the Interior Minister productive, (Siddiqui’s sister) said that the rehabilitation of Maryam would be started soon

And from the Indian Express, earlier, when the girl had been discovered but not DNA tested:

Claiming that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai had indicated recently that Aafia’s daughter would return home, Fauzia (Siddiqui’s sister) said, “If this girl is my sister’s daughter then now this issue will be settled in Islamabad.”

Meanwhile, Press TV reports that a Pakistani Senator and chairman of the Pakistani Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior, Senator Talha Mehmood, “slammed the US for keeping the child in a military jail in a cold, dark room for seven years.”

Almost everything you hear about the targeted story (Maryam’s discovery) and the larger story (Siddiqui’s disappearance and subsequent US conviction) should, imo, but taken with a grain of salt.  But what we do have are some strongly competing narratives at work.

Karzai and the US administration Buy Brand Levitra Online Pharmacy No Prescription Needed have severe rifts. Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani is on his way to the US (and had apparently earlier refused to put any discussions of Siddiqui on his scheduled talks with the US ).  Karzai is reported as making some claims about the return of the girl. A girl appears and, as the Prime Minister is arriving in the US, Pakistan’s Interior Minister and a Pakistani Senator are holding press conferences, one confirming that the girl is Siddiqui’s long missing daughter and the other alleging she was held in a dark cell at Bagram by the US military.

Meanwhile, the Secretaries, Gates and Clinton, are out in force today, calling Karzai a “reliable partner.”

The cast of characters and plot lines in the Siddiqui mystery are complex — courts in Pakistan, the CIA,  competing political factions, KSM, large street rallies and protests, a Pakistani Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Afghan leader Karzai, the US Department of Justice, Charles Swift who handled the Hamdan case (and represented Siddiqui in her trial), courts in the US, missing bullets, missing children, competing fingerprint and DNA information, and more.

The only thing missing from this international tale of intrigue? Dedicated reporting by the US press.

*A Reuter’s slide show of yesterday’s meeting between Malik, Siddiqui’s sister and the young girl can be found here.

SOURCE : Firedoglake.com

In a letter addressed to US President Barack Obama and released to the media, Lord Nazir Ahmed along with Lord Altaf Sheikh, Lord Patel and MP Muhammad Sarwar have stressed that Dr.Siddiqui’s cause has become a rallying point for the people of Pakistan .

“We must  stress that anti-American feeling her treatment is causing in an area key to success against extremist insurgency,” the Parliamentarians said.

The lawmakers hoped that President Obama, who values the admirable founding principles of his nation, will use his good offices to resolve the matter which is very dear to the people of Pakistan.

The British legislators also questioned fairness Buy Baclofen online without prescription of her recent trial conducted under the supervision of Judge Richard Berman.

“We are informed that in this case there was an utter lack of concrete evidence tying Dr Siddiqui to the weapon  she allegedly fired at a US officer. Furthermore, there was no evidence of bullets or residue from a fired gun at the scene of the crime. All scientific and forensic evidence such as DNA testing and finger printing have exonerated Dr.Siddiqui and on the basis of this we find very difficult to identify how a guilty verdict was reached.”

They also strongly believed that a grave miscarriage of justice has occurred in Dr.Siddiqui’s case which contravenes both the US obligations as a UN member state and the family’s rights under the Sixth Amendment of the US constitution.

“We therefore as that her missing children be located post haste and that the family be returned to Pakistan as innocent victims of the war on terror.”

SOURCE : Pakistantimes.net

Her trial proceedings were carefully orchestrated. Witnesses were either enlisted, pressured, coerced, and/or bought off to cooperate, then jurors were intimidated to convict, her attorney, Elaine Whitfield Sharp, saying their verdict was “based on fear, not fact.”

On February 3, 2010, after a sham trial, the Department of Justice announced Siddiqui’s conviction for “attempting to murder US nationals in Afghanistan and six additional charges.” When sentenced on May 6, she faces up to 20 years for each attempted murder charge, possible life in prison on the firearms charge, and eight years on each assault charge.

In March 2003, after visiting her family in Karachi, Pakistan, government Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agents, in collaboration with Washington, abducted Siddiqui and her three children en route to the airport for a flight to Rawalpindi, handed them over to US authorities who took them secretly to Bagram prison, Afghanistan for more than five years of brutal torture and unspeakable abuse, including vicious beatings and repeated raping.

Bogusly charged and convicted, Siddiqui was guilty only of being Muslim in America at the wrong time. A Pakistani national, she was deeply religious, very small, thoughtful, studious, quiet, polite, shy, soft-spoken, barely noticeable in a gathering, not extremist or fundamentalist, and, of course, no terrorist.

She attended MIT and Brandeis University where she earned a doctorate in neurocognitive science. She did volunteer charity work, taught Muslim children on Sundays, distributed Korans to area prison inmates, dedicated herself to helping oppressed Muslims worldwide, yet lived a quiet, unassuming nonviolent life.

Nonetheless, she was accused of being a “high security risk” for alleged Al-Qaeda connections linked to planned terrorist attacks against New York landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Building, accusations so preposterous they never appeared in her indictment.

The DOJ’s more likely interest was her supposed connection, through marriage, to a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the bogusly charged 9/11 mastermind who confessed after years of horrific torture. US authorities tried to use them both – to coerce KSM to link Siddiqui to Al-Qaeda, and she to admit his responsibility for 9/11 – something she knew nothing about or anything about her alleged relative.

Her trial was a travesty of justice based on the preposterous charge that in the presence of two FBI agents, two Army interpreters, and three US Army officers, she (110 pounds and frail) assaulted three of them, seized one of their rifles, opened fire at close range, hit no one, yet she was severely wounded.

No credible evidence was presented. Some was kept secret. The proceedings were carefully orchestrated. Witnesses were either enlisted, pressured, coerced, and/or bought off to cooperate, then jurors were intimidated to convict, her attorney, Elaine Whitfield Sharp, saying their verdict was “based on fear, not fact.”

Awaiting her May 6 sentencing, Siddiqui is incarcerated in harsh maximum security solitary confinement at New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), denied all contact with friends and family, no mail or reading materials, or access to her previously allowed once a month 15 minute phone call to relatives.
Justice for Aafia Coalition (JFAC)

In February 2010, Muslim women in America, Britain, Canada, and Australia united in outrage over Siddiqui’s treatment and bogus conviction, demanding her release and exoneration.

March 28 was the seventh anniversary of her abduction, commemorated by a global day of protest, JFAC saying it was “to have events, demonstrations, letter-writing campaigns, khutbahs (sermons or public preaching), etc. in towns and cities all over the world in solidarity with Aafia” – for justice, against sadism and barbarity against an innocent woman, guilty of being a target of opportunity, not crimes she didn’t commit.

JFAC published a transcript of the March 26 Kamram Shahid-conducted Pakistan Front Line TV interview with Siddiqui family members, including her mother, Ismat, sister, Fowzia, and young son, Ahmed, who asked “why have they imprisoned her and why did they imprison me?” In response to whether he’d like to give his mother a message, he said:

“I love you and I am waiting for you (to) come back soon, if Allah permits.”

Ismat confirmed some of Aafia’s torture in shocking detail, saying:

She endured a lot, some of the worst of it including “six men….strip(ping) her naked. All her clothes would be removed. She told this to the Pakistani senators too, that they would strip her naked, then tie her hands behind her back, and then they would take her, dragging her by the hair. You cannot imagine the cruelty they have done to her. They would take her like this to the corridor and film her there.”

“After that, they observed that she would read the Qu’ran, from memory and from the book. They again would send six, seven men, who would strip her naked and misbehave etc. They took the Qu’ran and threw it at her feet and told her that only if you walk on the Qu’ran will we return (it) to you. She would cry and shout that she would not do it. Then they would beat her with their rifle butts so much that she would be bloodied. All her face and body would be injured. Then they used to pull out her hair one by one, just like this….They threatened (to) take her to the court like this, naked.”

After “beat(ing) her so much that she bled….they made her lie on a bed. Then they tied her hands and feet – hands and feet both tied so that she (could) not even… scratch her wounds. Then they applied torture to the soles of her feet and head. They put her in some machines to make her lose her mental stability. They gave her such injections on the pretext of medical treatment.” When she pleaded not to do it, “they would make her unconscious and then give them to her. Such is (their) cruelty.”

“This epic cruelty – and look at (the) Islamic world….They are all silent and making their palaces in Hell….She was not even a criminal in their law. And she has done no crime. They did not accuse her of terrorism. She is not a terrorist.”

Her sister Fowzia said “It is all on tape. I am not making this up. They are sadists or whatever. All the strip searching was video-taped. (She called Aafia) a poster child for this torture and rendition,” one of many others brutalized in American prisons. Court testimony revealed that her children were also tortured, Ahmed later released on condition he say nothing, two still missing and presumed murdered. “I think even Genghis Khan did not do this,” said Fowzia.

In an August 2008 address to Pakistan’s Senate, Fowzia explained that “Aafia (can’t) get justice in the US….They are sure to make her out to be a major terror figure to mask the five years of torture, rape and child molestation as reported by human rights groups.”

Her case is much more important than “my sister or one woman. Her torture is a crime beyond anything she was ever accused of (which was basically nothing) and this is a slap on the honor of our nation and the whole of humanity. The perpetrators of those crimes are the ones who need to be brought to account. That is the real crime of terror here.”

Fowzia appealed for Aafia’s extradition to Pakistan, despite little hope of expecting a government complicit in crime to cooperate beyond rhetoric. At first, it denied knowledge, then, after meeting with family, interior minister Faisal Saleh Hayat and other officials promised to work for her release, still denying complicity for what happened.

Because her ordeal sparked nationwide protests, Pakistan’s government is in damage control, apparently wants to shift blame to Washington, investigating officer Shahid Qureshi, in a report to the judicial magistrate, saying “FBI intelligence agents without any warrants or notice” committed the abduction – knowing full well about ISI’s complicity.

During conflnement, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said Siddiqui had a kidney and her teeth removed. Her nose was broken and not properly set. Her gun shot wound was improperly treated. Reuters reported that she lost part of her intestines and still bleeds internally from poor treatment. Those around her notice she’s deathly pale because of extreme trauma and pain.

After years of horrific torture and abuse, a federal Bureau of Prisons psychological evaluation diagnosed her condition to be “depressive type psychosis” besides the destructive physical toll on her body.
World Outrage and Support

The Muslim Justice Initiative (MJI) said Siddiqui’s “recent guilty verdict….shocked and outraged masses across the globe” in announcing an April 2 online webinar discussion on her behalf, featuring her brother Mohammed, sister Fawzia, noted UK journalist and Siddiqui advocate Yvonne Ridley, and Tina Foster, Executive Director of the International Justice Network (IJN). Information on the event can be found at muslimsforjustice.org.

On February 3, Siddiqui’s conviction date, IJN said the following:

It “represents the family of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui in the United States,” its attorneys “monitoring her trial, which began on January 19 and ended with a guilty verdict today in US Federal Court in the Southern District of New York.”

“Today marks the close of another sad chapter in the life of our sister, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. Today she was unjustly found guilty. Though she was not charged with any terrorism-related offense, Judge Berman permitted the prosecution’s witnesses to characterize our sister as a terrorist – which, based on copious (exculpatory) evidence, she clearly is not. Today’s verdict is one of the many legal errors that allowed the prosecution to build a case against our sister based on hate, rather than fact. We believe that as a result, she was denied a fair trial, and today’s verdict must be overturned on appeal.”

Himself victimized by US torture, including at Bagram, author of “Enemy Combatant: A British Muslim’s Journey to Guantanamo and Back,” Moassam Begg (like others), called Aafia “the Grey Lady of Bagram because she (was) almost a ghost, a spectre whose cries and screams continue to haunt those who heard her.” So much so that for six days in 2005, male prisoners staged a hunger strike in protest.

After sentencing, her next journey may be to isolated life confinement in federal Supermax hell – according to the US Department of Justice National Institute of Corrections, intended for the most dangerous criminals, guilty of “repetitive assaultive or violent institutional behavior,” the worst of the worst who threaten society or national security.

Hardly the place for a woman called shy, soft-spoken, deeply religious, polite, studious, thoughtful, and considerate of others, especially persecuted Muslims being brutalized in America’s global gulag, courtesy of an administration that pays lip service to ending torture but practices it as sadistically as George Bush and the worst of history’s tyrants.

SOURCE : Baltimorechronicle.com