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Dr. Aafia Siddiqui: Tried before Trial, Luton 21/02/10 FREE
In the Name of Allaah, the Most Merciful, Most Gracious
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui : Tried before Trial
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui:
Born in Karachi, Pakistan
Citizen educated and employed in America
Kidnapped, held hostage and separated from her children in Pakistan
Imprisoned, tortured and abused for years in Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan
Renditioned and tried in America.
APL to support Lord Ahmed for Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s fair trial
LONDON : The UK-based Association of Pakistani origin Lawyers (APL) has announced its complete support to the campaign initiated by British parliamentarian Lord Nazir Ahmed to seek a fair trial of Dr.Aafia Siddiqui. APL Chair Barrister Amjad Malik, said Tuesday that western media has blacked out Dr.Siddiqui’s conviction and reactions including reservations on trial which shows that it is always ready to rub under the carpet some of the worst human rights abuses when it comes to their national interest.
He confirmed that APL appreciates Lord Ahmed’s stance on Dr. Siddiqui’s case and that the Association will support any drive Lord Ahmed initiates to campaign, and seek fair trial for Dr. Siddiqui.
He said it is strange that neuroscientist was first labelled as No.7 on the wanted list of Al-Qaeda and later was charged and tried for minor criminal offences and she never had the opportunity to wipe the stigma attached to her name being associated with the outfit which in itself is a criminal offence.
Dr. Aafia’s trial hits closing arguments
NEW YORK: Pakistan scientist Aafia Siddiqui’s lawyers concluded their arguments before a Manhattan court on Monday, insisting that there’s no physical evidence that their client had tried to kill American soldiers and FBI agents.
The trial of Dr Aafia, charged with shooting at her US interrogators in Afghanistan, moved into the final stage. As defence and prosecution lawyers delivered their closing arguments, the 16-member jury went into deliberations to reach a verdict. Sources said the verdict could come early next week.
Dr Aafia, who received graduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University in biology and neuroscience while living in the US between 1991 and June 2002, wasn’t in the courtroom as closing statements were made.
Summations Hours Away in Siddiqui Trial
Closing remarks are scheduled to be heard on Monday afternoon in the trial of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman charged with attempted murder of American Citizens, at a police station in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.
Although there are no terrorism related charges brought against Siddiqui, nor is she charged with any connections to Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or Osama bin Laden, these allegations have been cleverly interwoven in the attempted murder charges. The Prosecution does not have to prove them nor can she respond to them, as they are not the charges she is on trial for. Yet terrorism frames the Prosecution’s entire case.
Thus in closing remarks the Prosecution is likely to once again tell the story of how a would be terrorist tried to pick up a soldiers M4 rifle and shoot at a group of American soldiers and FBI officials who had come to interrogate her at a police station in Ghazni, about documents found in her possession including pictures of New York landmarks and notes about how to make a dirty bomb. As irrational an attempt as it may appear to be they will tell the jury that while shooting she shouted “I want to kill Americans” or “Allah ul-Akbar”, like the many irrational suicide bombers who came before her. Then they will tell, how, in order to save the lives of the heavily armed group, one soldier returned fire shooting Siddiqui in the abdomen. Despite the fact that she had expressed her hatred for Americans and desire to kill them, the U.S.
Aafia Siddiqui Trial: Jury Can Start Deliberation On Monday
Jury in Dr. Aafia Siddiqui trial is likely to begin deliberations Monday afternoon after prosecution and defense attorneys make closing statements.
In a taped video deposition presented by defense on Friday, Bashir, an Afghan police officer testified that he saw an American officer walk behind the curtain just before he heard gun shots, and that he never saw Dr. Siddiqui pick up a gun. Bashir was the last defense witness.
Earlier in the day Judge Richard Berman allowed prosecution to produce additional witnesses to rebut claims made by the defense witnesses and experts.
Witnesses statements vary in Dr Aafia’s trial
New York—An FBI expert told a federal court on Wednesday that he found no fingerprints on the rifle that Aafia Siddiqui allegedly grabbed to fire at US interrogators in Afghanistan, but asserted that firearms in many cases do not retain them.
T. J. Fife, the FBI fingerprint expert who was put on the stand by the prosecution on the second day of Ms. Siddiqui’s trial, said he used all techniques, including the top-of-the-line laser technology to search for evidence, but found nothing on the M-4 rifle, which was produced in the court. “There were no fingerprints on the rifle, but it is difficult to obtain them from firearms,” he added. Fife was the last of the five prosecution witnesses who testified on Wednesday. He will be cross-examined by defence lawyers on Thursday.
Throughout Wednesday’s proceedings, the lawyers for the prosecution and defence worked to focus the jurors’ attention on their stands concerning the July 18, 2008, incident in Ghazni, Afghanistan. In his opening statement on Tuesday,
Aafia’s lawyer says tougher court security violate her right to open trial
NEW YORK: A lawyer for Aafia Siddiqui on Thursday protested against heavier-than-usual security at the U.S. District Court where the Pakistani neuroscientist is being tried for attempted murder, saying the measures violated his client’s right to a free, fair and open trial. Just before the court adjourned on the third day of trial, Charles Swift, her lead lawyer, said that the court’s security men were asking people coming in to witness the proceedings to produce their personal identification even after passing through two check points.
A metal detector was put in place outside the 21st-floor courtroom, in addition to the ones already on the ground floor. Even journalists with press passes were asked to provide additional identification, like a drivers license or social security number. Swift, one of three top lawyers retained by the Pakistan government to defend Ms. Siddiqui, said that the jurors could also feel threatened by the tougher security measures enforced in the court. But Judge Berman said that he had no knowledge of the security steps being taken and would discuss with the relevant authorities on Friday.
Aafia Siddiqui Trial Day Three
by Petra Bartosiewicz
This week the long awaited trial of Aafia Siddiqui began in a federal courtroom in Manhattan. Her case has been one of the most baffling in the annals of post-9/11 terrorism prosecutions. Siddiqui, as regular readers of this website know, is a 37-year-old, MIT-educated neuroscientist, who lived in the U.S. for ten years before mysteriously vanishing from Karachi, her hometown, in 2003, along with her three children, two of whom are American born. For five years her whereabouts remained unknown, while rumors swirled that she was an Al Qaeda operative, and that she had married Ammar al Baluchi, the nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and one of the five accused 9/11 plotters expected to face trial in the U.S. In July 2008 she was picked up in Ghazni, Afghanistan on suspicion of being a suicide bomber. The following day, as a team of U.S. soldiers and FBI agents arrived to question her at the police station where she was being held, she allegedly managed to get hold of an M-4 automatic rifle belonging to one of the soldiers, and, according to prosecutors, she opened fire. She hit no one but was herself hit in the abdomen by return fire.
Aafia’s trial to resume on Monday
NEW YORK: The trial of Aafia Siddiqi, the Pakistani neuroscientist, on charge of attempted murder adjourned till next week after recording the testimony on Friday of a firearm expert working for the FBI.
Judge Richard Berman of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan said the trial will resume on Monday morning. Before the adjournment, the lead lawyer for Ms. Siddiqui, Charles Swift, told the judge that the extra security measures, about which he had protested on Thursday, were still in place on Friday.
