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Ms. Foster, who
is also Executive Director of International Justice Network,
made clear that Dr Aafia wanted to appeal against her
conviction but not through lawyers recommended by the
Pakistani government as she had already expressed no
confidence on them. She also dispelled the notion that Dr
Aafia was convicted due to her statement in the court and
said that same was baseless.
She said that Dr Aafia is now detained in Carswel, Texas in
a small cell and despite the court order she was not being
allowed to meet her lawyers. She expressed hope that Dr.
Aafia could be returned to Pakistan through executive order
in same manner she was shifted to Afghanistan and US and in
this connection Dr. Aafia’s family will meet Interior
Minister Rehman Malik for return of Dr Aafia through
executive order.
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison by US
court in September for attacking US soldiers in Afghanistan
in 2008. Dr. Aafia, a resident of Karachi, along with her
three children was allegedly kidnapped by law enforcement
agencies from Gulshan-e-Iqbal Karachi in March 2003 when she
was leaving for Rawalpindi from her mother’s house.
Aafia’s family alleged that US agencies CIA and FBI were
also involved in such operation. They said that threats were
issued to Dr Aafia family to remain silent over the
abduction otherwise their lives could be in danger. They
said detainees were handed over to US agencies by Pakistani
LEAs in violation of Constitution. The whereabouts of Dr
Aafia came into light following media report of British
journalist Yvonne Ridley in 2007-08 that said that Dr Aafia
was detained in Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan and later the
US authorities due to pressure of rights organization shown
arrest of Dr Aafia in Afghanistan and booked her in criminal
case.
Dr Aafia is an American-educated Pakistani neuroscientist
who was convicted after a jury trial in a US federal court
of assault with the intent to murder US interrogators in
Afghanistan. The sentence invited immense criticism from
people in Pakistan and government had been under pressure
for gearing up efforts for her release.
The charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison. In
September, 2010, she was sentenced by the US judge to 86
years in prison, drawing immense criticism from people in
Pakistan.
She had been engaged in charity work in the US for many
years. She moved back to Pakistan in 2002 after the attack
on the Twin Towers. She disappeared with her three young
children in March 2003, with her family claiming that she
was abducted by intelligence officials.
Her whereabouts remained unknown for more than five years,
until the US officials claimed to have arrested her in July
2008 in Afghanistan.
The Afghan police said she was carrying in her purse
handwritten notes and a computer thumb drive containing
recipes for conventional bombs and weapons of mass
destruction.
However, her family says she was kidnapped from Karachi and
then taken to Afghanistan. |
