The world demands to know what the U.S government did to Aafia Siddiqui
August 19th, 2008More than 5 years ago, Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neurologist and mother of three was accused without evidence by the U.S government to have links with Al Qaeda (don’t we all?)
Since 9/11 her life and the lives of many innocent Arabs, Muslims, Afghans and Pakistanis within the USA changed for the worse, when the USA began shamelessly discriminating, arresting, and even torturing innocent civilians under the false premise of “national security.” Innocent people were undergoing severe torture simply for being “suspects” of terrorism.
According to a BBC article from earlier this month:
Research at the time refused to turn up anything on the status of Aafia Siddiqui – she was not listed as wanted by any federal or Pakistani agency.
At that point, it seemed she had vanished off the face of the earth.
Siddiqui comes from a very well established and educated family, and from what I have been reading, she is seemingly open minded. She even wanted her children to be raised and educated in the USA, which led to disputes with her husband, also a Pakistani who was arrested and questioned by the FBI for buying goggles and some military manuals. Here is her familial background:
Her brother is an architect based in Houston, while Fauzia [her sister] is a neurologist who used to work at Mount Sinai hospital in New York.
Aafia Siddiqui went to school in Karachi and graduated with a biology degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.
Keep in mind that the claims below are nothing but that; baseless claims, and has yet to be evidenced by something other than FBI gossip. Comments within brackets are my own:
In 2004 then-FBI director Robert Mueller announced at a press conference that Aafia Siddiqui was wanted for questioning.
She was later named as part of an alleged al-Qaeda diamond smuggling operation in Liberia. [Because an established neurologist with an MIT degree and three children has enough free time on her hands to organize terrorist movements in Liberia.] Publications such as Newsweek quoted the FBI as saying this was to finance al-Qaeda’s biological and chemical weapons programme.
After that, her name remained on the list of disappeared – until she surfaced last month in Afghanistan in US military custody.
[...]
“It is always believed one is innocent until proven guilty, not the other way round,” her sister, Fauzia, told reporters in Karachi on Tuesday.
She added that every time she had met US officials, they had said they had never formally accused Aafia Siddiqui of being a terrorist [but arrested and tortured her anyways!]
The article concludes with what is pretty much her only crime:
The answer may lie in her relationship with the family of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Aafia Siddiqui is said to have married Ali Abd’al Aziz Ali, one of his nephews following her divorce. Although her family denies this, the BBC has been able to confirm it from security sources and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s family.
It is an open secret in Karachi, that any member of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s family deemed to be “a 1% threat to US security” is in American custody.
That may be the only “crime” that Aafia Siddiqui has committed.
No evidence of anything else but a romantic link. No record of terrorism or abuse. No proof of her “terrorist activities” whatsoever. She is from an educated family, she has never harmed the USA, she has never committed a crime, and her only supposed link to “terrorism” is her marriage to a “nephew” of whom the USA considers to be a terrorist.
Shame on the U.S government, and to all U.S officials who knew about the injustice of this but remained silent.
This is one of MANY hypocracies when it comes to the USA preaching “democracy and human rights” to countries like Pakistan and the greater Muslim world, especially under this disgusting administration which has ruined and ended the lives of millions of innocent people.
Free Aafia Siddiqui right now, and all your other innocent “suspects.”
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U.S. Government and Bush administration is engaged in committing atrocities of Muslims and destruction of Islamic world by direct militart attackes on some countries, blackmail, threats, assassinations, and other intrigue for the last eight years. Case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is a prime example of continuation of same anti-Muslim policies.
Aafia Siddiqui is sold to Americans by Musharraf, who is still not taken to court for this. May Allah make it easy for her, give her courage and heal her wounds.
Ameen
It is deplorable to know what the USA is supporting. How foolish and ignorant do they think the rest of the world is, for them to claim to act on behalf of democracy and global human rights? The current U.S government is ready to commit some of the worst crimes against humanity simply to protect their own interests. This much has been proven, and debating it would be like debating the color of dust.
Either way, only they have the decision right now to free and stop torturing this innocent woman who did nothing wrong. And how shameful it is for the U.S media not to visibly protest this issue, or at least apologize on behalf of their governments to Dr. Siddiqui’s family, and indeed to reveal the many other similar atrocities that their government is guilty of.
Dr. Siddiqui’s sister is right, what happened to “innocent until proven guilty,” or does that only apply to American citizens and not to “worthless” citizens of the rest of the world?
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is not the last person who will be a sacrificial lamb but there would be many who will be tortured, maimed, harrassed, berated, insulted, treated like a sub human before getting butchered by Bush administration and his like minded cronies. This is the price that we the Muslims should be expected to pay for our disunity and not exercising our economic and political leverage.
In an Indian movie “March 23, 1931 Shaheed”, a young Indian child asks his mother “Mother, when there are so many Indians and so little Britons in India, why don’t we justkick them out” and the poor mother had no answer. Because the Indians had sold their souls to the Britons for few pennies. Same is true in these days when the so called leaders of Muslim world are more interested in their personal interests than the umma at large, and as long as these leaders such as Musharraf, King of Saudi Arabia, and likewise are there, we will see many Aafia Siddiquis tortured by the hands of these American creeps.
It’s so sickening to know what the U.S government is capable of, especially when you think of her children – one of them was only 6 months old at the time of her arrest. What happened to them?! Being an educated and devout Muslim seems to be a crime in the USA.
Here is another sad article detailing her innocent life.
I am utterly disgusted at this abusive U.S government who sets no ethical limits for itself. Ironically U.S officials claim to be fighting against terrorism, when they are indeed amongst the biggest terrorists in the world, for committing such grave injustices and refusing to correct them.
You can take a look at how monstrous and abusive some people are by reading this embarrassing article. Michelle Malkin is the real criminal who should be “questioned” for showing no bounds to her racism, hatred, and support of U.S sponsored terrorism, not an innocent mother who is feared to have been tortured into insanity for no reason. When Aafia was arrested on false charges, Malkin and her ignorant flock of sheep claimed it was victorious, and considered her possible death to be “great news.” What an insufferable team of bigots, and what shameful news that her blog is one of the top 10 in political America.
Go ahead and read the comments in that article, but it won’t be long before you’d have to run to the bathroom in order to purge yourself.
Dear Esra’a
Thanks for writing for Dr.Aafia. I would liko to invite you and all visitiors to join us for Dr. Aafia release on this link
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28530506102
Thx
The patriot act is getting out of hand. There is whole legal trend in America where people are getting convicted based on a “preponderance of evidence” – basically, you get busted because someone is afraid of you or thinks you will committ a crime. No proof required. This is the law regarding the issuance of restraining orders and domestic violence as well. These laws open the door for false convictions. Thus, unfournately, because there is a legal precedence for type of guilty until provent innocent stuff that Dr. Siddiqui is undergoing – which will make any efforts to free her harder.
People need to be innocent until proven guilty again.
Legal procedure aside, how do we know she is completely innnocent? This article from the times online notes:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4467148.ece
If they have evidence, like what is stated above, they need to do a proper trial. If not, then let her go.
Madmax, the Times article, the Fox article which I linked to, and all their shallow followers like Michelle Malkin are basing their opinions off of street gossip.
Not a single piece of evidence was produced on any of the charges brought against her, not one plausable report. None of the stories add up. This is a cooked story, where the U.S government is too arrogant to admit its mistakes and correct it.
They should have let her go years ago when she was first arrested, due to a clear lack of evidence.
It’s really disgusting that a 6 month old child can be amongst the “disappeared” and no one in the U.S government could care less – not one influential politician in America campaigned for the release of her and her children, how absurd is this?
I swear, if another American politican exemplifies his/her country with liberty and human rights, I will consider such statement to be the joke of the century.
Fair enough. I can also buy the street gossip idea. There does not seem to be much evidence published that could prove guilt (beyond all reasonable doubt)…But I am not against the U.S. government as an entity, just those who are running it now. The fish rots from the head. The government is imcompetent because those who run it don’t really care. The CIA needs to stop picking names out of hats whenever they need a scapegoat. We need a spy network that does not rely solely on satellite imageing and magic to find actual terrorists. All our defense spending goas to the army.
Politicians care only about their careers. If they don’t think such a campaign will get them votes, they will not do it. Unfortunately, this is not surprising.
Such absurdity is perfectly normal. Whenever someone new is elected, they sell out within a year.
I hate to be a cynic.
Kind of like Clinton threatning to bomb Iran into oblivion to get a few extra votes and the support of Israel. 99% of influential people have no standards. And this doesn’t apply only to the USA but the rest of the world, indeed like commenters here already pointed out, it was Pakistani leaders who put Siddiqui into the hands of the U.S government for a few extra dollars.
Pretty much. Achmadinejad garners support in Iran by threatening Israel. They play into each others hands because both populations feel threatened by the opposite party. I know my government tries to scare me sometimes…but somehow that knowledge doesn’t always ease the fear. They get you by conquering your heart, not your head. Most of the worlds population responds based on feelings rather than thoughts. Thats why trying to argue with an extremist is a waste of time – even if he or she understands your points, it will not make up for how he or she feels. Logic does not change emotion.
On the topic of Dr. Siddiqui, even if people know she is innocent, they are already scared of devout Muslims (or those posing as such), whom many witnessed attacking WTC. The emotion dominates and causes people to still be suspicious. Thus, they wish to err on the side of caution by letting the government deal with her in any way they see fit. Thus, people are willing to go to great lengths to assuage their fears and remain emotionally content.
How do you think they got into power? They were willing to do anything to get there. Anything.
This doesn’t show anything but the dangerous stupidity of narrow minded American citizens. With this logic, all Afghans and Iraqis who witnessed their countries being ripped apart would fear any living American, but this is hardly the case.
A friend of mine keeps noting that America’s happiness (not security) relies on destroying the lives of others, most of whom are completely innocent. No justice, no evidence, no mercy, not even a formal apology. When a person dies in the hands of this filthy government it is “business as usual” to its administration members. I see her point being proven with each day.
My happiness is not contingent upon your misery. I am sorry you feel that way. If you are refering to that way the government might act in its own interests, which make it happy, then may be on to something. But what government isn’t pleased by acting in its own interests? I do not think anyone feels Schadenfreude. Its more like greedy people doing things to enrich themselves and not caring what happens to anyone else.
I am telling you what is, not what should be. You have said in other posts how American news networks scare people. Well, here is the result. Politics of fear at its finest. You take for granted that you know what news sources are trustworthy and what aren’t. They think what they see and read is right. In turn, they feel their emotions are justified. That whole story you claim was made up is real to them.
Did something bad happen to you today?
Salaam alaikum,
I’ve linked and excerpted this post at my blog http://www.progressiveislam.info. I included the BBC video report on Siddiqui too, because it shows some of her family’s response (though it has some propagandistic techniques that bother me).
Come on everybody, let’s use the viral nature of the Internet to elevate the visibility of our objections by cross-linking.
It’s good to see so much commotion on this issue. The western media is trying to bury this thing. But her plight is something US cannot run forever. Treating a muslim women like they have treated Dr. Aafia is absolutely deplorable. The US have completely lost all credibility(if they had any) in the eyes of the world. They see themselves as champion of democracy but they truly are the agents of Satan on Earth. I pray to Allah to rid this world of this menace.
Hi
Updates regarding Dr.Aafia , thx to sister Sahira.
Aafia Siddiqui’s criminal Defence Lawyer Elizabeth Fink held a press conference on Monday, August 25th in which she distributed the following information on how to send picture post cards to Aafia and how to make sure she has some money in her jail account so she can purchase items like newspapers and can make phone calls:
The following paragraphs are obtained directly from the handout distributed by Elizabeth Fink.
HOW TO SEND MAIL, PUBLICATIONS, AND MONEY TO AAFIA SIDDIQUI
AAFIA SIDDIQUI # 90279-054
MDC BROOKLYN
METROPOLITAN DETENTION CENTER
P.O BOX 329002
BROOKLYN, NY 11232
All mail will be opened and read by the United States Government. Please do not discuss her case, the charges against her, or where she has been for the past 5 years, her children, of family health matters, and do not ask her to discuss these things with you.
Only letters are permitted. Please do not send packages. You can send photographs with your letters, but no other items can be sent by mail.
BOOKS/MAGAZINES/OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Magazines and Newspapers must be sent directly from the publisher. Books can be ordered through Barnes & Noble – http://www.barnesandnoble.com
Aafia has requested books with nature photographs. She would also like to receive a daily newspaper (The New York Times) and magazines. If you would like to send her a publication, and want to make sure that she has not already received it, please email Sarah Kunstler at sarah@fkolaw.com
COMMISARY ACCOUNT
Aafia has a commissary account which she can use to make telephone calls and to purchase personal items and snacks.
The fastest way to put money into this account is through Western Union. You can do this by telephone, in person at a Western Union location, or online.
1) At an agent location with cash: You must complete a Quick Collect Form. To find the nearest agent, call 1-800-325-6000 or go to http://www.westernunion.com
2) By phone using a credit card / Debit card: Call 1-800-634-3422 and press option 2.
3) ONLINE using a credit / debit card: Go to http://www.westernunion.com , Click on Make Payment. Click the “online” button under “Send Money to an Inmate’s Trust Fund”, select “Federal Bureau of Prisons” as the Correctional Facility and hit continue. Enter the amount of money you want to deposit, the state you are sending from, and hit continue. The Acc # is 90279054SIDDIQUI. Type Aafia Siddiqui in the Attn or Memo line.
For each Western Union Quick Collect transaction, the following information must be provided:
1) Account #: 90279054SIDDIQUI
2) Attn or Memo Line: AAFIA SIDDIQUI
3) Code City: FBOP
4) State code: DC
If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Kunstler at sarah@fkolaw.com or call:
The Law Office of Elizabeth M Fink
36 Plaza Street Suite 1G
Brooklyn, NY 11238
Tel 718-783-3682
Fax 718-783-5853
All this fuss and I have still to see one scrap of evidence that she has been imprisoned for 5 years.
No, U.S officials, after naming her one of the most wanted women on earth (shock and awe) just detained her briefly in order to play a few rounds of tennis. No one accused her of having links to Al Qaeda before her disappearence. Every news report detailing her experience is a lie, and everything her lawyer and family say are also direct lies. Of course, this is because the USA is always moral and innocent, and no one has any reason to doubt these superheroes in office.
[...] no documented evidence on that. But should we expect it? Because we never got evidence on Siddiqui’s case [...]
Funny how Aafia and her son both have the same disorder that prevents them talking about the past 5 years
Indeed, it’s a horrible disorder called “censorship.” Lots of people have it and it’s quite unfortunate.
Esra
Reporters regurgitating the same unfounded conspiracies is not evidence no matter how many similar reports are made. The US is not always moral but they are not always evil.
Look at the Ummah’s appalling ignorance (some exceptions). They blame the west for 911, they blame the west for 7/7, They blame us now for the Marriott. Every terror suspect is innocent. Every war is the fault of the west.
censorship? What censorship? Surely everyone is free to make all kinds of wild accusations.
Why haven’t we heard a word from her son where he has been for 5 years? Don’t tell me that behind that plump grinning face is a child too traumatized to talk. I can smell BS and so should you.
Saying it’s BS doesn’t work for me. I need evidence, that’s the whole point behind my actual post. Evidence, not gossip.
Evidence? You’ve come this far without evidence why stop now? What evidence is there that she has been held for 5 years? If you had 3 kids that went missing and one of them returned wouldn’t you expect the one to speak on the condition of the other 2?
Your whole scenerio doesn’t make sense. Put your self in the position of the Americans for one second. OK, lets assume that they are so evil that they detained 3 kids for 5 years and tortured their innocent mother for 5 years just to satisfy their evil desires. OK, why the hell would they release her and her son just to shoot her, send her son back home and put her on trial? It doesn’t make sense and there is no scrap of evidence to support it.
“A friend of mine keeps noting that America’s happiness (not security) relies on destroying the lives of others, most of whom are completely innocent. ”
There is a lot more ignorance in the world than evilness. Your friend is an idiot.
What doesn’t make sense to you makes sense to others. I don’t buy US propaganda surrounding her case. Too many people are saying too many different things for us to claim their total innocence, which they have yet to prove.
This whole post is a request for evidence, hence the title. A lady who appeared in the most wanted list for the USA isn’t going to be simply “pardoned” unless the USA actually pardons her officially, which they never did. We want evidence on WHY she appeared on the most wanted list in the first place, and then we want to know what they did to her! And it’s already been well established that they did something. Her lawyer, her family, her friends, her professors, the entire Pakistani media, and some of the world’s most prominent news sources have claimed that. According to her lawyer she has in fact been severely tortured in an incident directly related to the USA. If you want to twist the story, it’s gonna take a lot more than calling it BS and claiming that none of it makes sense.
Someone whose life and family has directly been destroyed as a result of the U.S invasion of Iraq is neither ignorant nor an idiot. It’s someone who has suffered the traumatic abuse of war at a young age, and has gone through things that you would never even bring yourself to imagine. Try to be a bit more respectful of what others are suffering through.
I haven’t bought it either. The story of her arrest (in 2008) sounds unbelievably. Elements of the US forces have tried to cover up things before and until I see some solid proof that backs their claims I strongly suspect the account they provided of the day of her arrest.
The US had good reason to want to question the lady for her questionable transactions. She fled to Pakistan after 911 and as you make obvious she had reason to go into hiding after she made the most wanted list.
You should know that by now if you’ve been following her case. It can be found here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aafia_Siddiqui
Claiming something does not make it so. I can give you an even longer list of sources that claimed Iraq had wmds, yet there were none.
She doesn’t even talk to her lawyer anymore and the lawyer simply regurgitates what she has been told. OJ Simpson’s lawyers threw up all kinds of wild stories. It was their job to cloud their clients guilt.
Wait a second. That’s not fair. You post this malicious absurd and predjudiced statement,
and after I respond harshly you give me a sob story and accuse me of being disrespectful of someones suffering. Perhaps her story excuses her spitefulness and I take back calling her an idiot but the statement itself is idiotic.
Dr. Siddiqui has a really great sister, god bless her. If I was imprisoned somewhere I’d like to think my sister would do as good a job at creating hysteria about my situation.
“Dr Fouzia said that the institution court ordered Aafia to be sent to its Carswell Psychiatric Centre. This is a notorious facility in the known as a “House of Horror”. It has a documented history of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse (even by medical professionals, priests and prison guards). If rape and torture is being inflicted with the collaboration with legal, medical and security people AKA Partners in crime against humanity, she added.”
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Regional/Karachi/07-Oct-2008/Sister-rejects-psychiatric-evaluation-orders-of-Aafia
The truth is however, that Carswell Psychiatric Centre is a top notch facility. The only reason she is there is that Siddiqui’s lawyers were demanding that she be moved to a place where she could get psychological help.
Olympic star Marion Jones spent 6 months there last year but had no complaints of being raped and tortured.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20182928,00.html
In fact the doctor was just visited by a Pakistani delegation and they spoke to her for a long time.
“Dr. Siddiqui, who was pleased to meet the delegation, appeared in a good state of mind and in better physical health than when he met her in August in New York ”
“According to Faqir Hussain, the stomach infection she complained of was gone and her bullet wound was on the mend. “It’s a miracle how she recovered from a gunshot wound with no medical care.
“Asked as to what was Dr. Aafia’s biggest concern, Faqir Hussain felt she wanted to go back to at the earliest and was concerned about her children.”
I guess it slipped the doctor’s mind to complain about the torture and rapes. She is concerned about her children? That is a little vague isn’t it? Why no mention they were kidnapped and tortured with her for 5 years?
http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54969&Itemid=1
Siddiqui will pass her unnecessary psychological evaluation and stand trial. The web of lies the Pakistani people eagerly swallowed will soon be revealed.
Salaams to all!
It appears that many of you have been decieved.
Yvonne Ridley who came up with the 650 story has changed it.
“British journalist Yvonne Ridley who embraced Islam in Taliban captivity told that prisoners No. 650 was not Dr. Aafia Siddiqui rather another Pakistani woman who had been held in solitary confinement for years at the Bagram US base near Kabul”
http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=135352
The story was based on a presumption she made after readin Moazzam Begg’s book. Her irresponsible public statements have caused a lot of undo stress. From now on I suggest people look for real evidence instead of embracing such charlatans.
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