by Jamal Khurshid

The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the ministries of interior and foreign affairs on Thursday to submit their comments on a petition seeking action to ascertain the whereabouts of Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s missing son.

Siddiqui, who studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and did her PhD in genetics, was sentenced to 86 years in prison by a US court for attacking American soldiers in Afghanistan.

She, along with her three children, was allegedly picked up by security agencies about nine years back.

The direction came on a petition of Intekhab Alam Suri and Imran Ahmed of the Human Rights Network, who submitted that Siddiqui, a resident of Karachi, along with her three children, was allegedly kidnapped from Gulshan-e-Iqbal in March 2003 when she was leaving for Rawalpindi from her mother’s house.

The petitioners alleged that US agencies – CIA and FBI – were also involved in the operation, and submitted that Siddiqui’s family was warned to remain silent about the abductions, or their lives could be in danger. They said the detainees were handed over to the US agencies by Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies in violation of the constitution.

The counsel for the petitioners, Iqbal Aqeel, said that the detainees were not produced before any court of law in Pakistan and on the pointation of British journalist Yvonne Ridley in 2008 that Siddiqui was detained at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, the US authorities due to pressure of rights organisations falsely showed her arrest in Afghanistan in a false case.

The counsel for the petitioners said Siddiqui’s son, Mohammad Ahmed Khan, was released by the US authorities, while her daughter, Mayrum, was left outside her mother’s house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal last year. However, the whereabouts of Mohammad Suleman were still unknown, he said. A division bench, headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam, observed that any minor born to Pakistani citizen in the US was a Pakistani citizen as well. It further observed that the ministries of interior and foreign affairs were duty-bound to be concerned about the son of Siddiqui to extract information about his whereabouts.

The bench directed the federal law officer to convey the its directives to the foreign and interior ministries, and observed that if the ministries failed to comply with the directives, it may appoint amicus curiae to assist it in determining whether US authorities could be made to divulge information in respect of the well-being of Pakistani citizens.

It also appointed Salahuddin Ahmed as amicus curiae to assist it in establishing whether a foreign government or a state could be made subject to the jurisdiction of the court to enquire about the well-being and whereabouts of citizens of Pakistan in terms of Article 4 of the constitution.

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By Bill Roggio

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has released a videotape of a Swiss couple who were kidnapped in Baluchistan last summer and have been moved to the Waziristan tribal agencies. The Taliban reiterated their demand that Lady al Qaeda Aafia Siddiqui be released.

The short videotape was released on YouTube by the FATA Research Centre, which did not say how it obtained the tape. Both the man and woman give brief statements, and are seen holding a copy of Dawn’s Metro newspaper section, which is dated Sept. 15. The FATA Research Centre believes the video was created sometime on or after Sept. 20 as “it takes time for a newspapers to reach a war zone such as Waziristan.”

The hostages are seen kneeling in front of four Taliban fighters armed with AK-47s. Three of the men are masked and another has his face digitally distorted.

On the short tape, the male hostage calls for the release of Aafia Siddiqui. The hostage also called on Pakistan to release scores of fighters currently in custody.

This is the second time that the Taliban have demanded that the US free Aafia in exchange for the hostages. In late July, Waliur Rehman Mehsud, the deputy emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Paksitan and the group’s leader in South Waziristan, said that the couple’s fate would be decided by a Taliban court if Aafia is not freed. Waliur Rehman also said he ordered the kidnapping of the couple and that they are in his custody.

The Swiss hostages were kidnapped in Baluchistan in early July, and were transferred to the Zhob district before being moved to the South Waziristan tribal agency. While in South Waziristan, they were held in an area under the control of Taliban’ leader Mullah Nazir, who is favored by the Pakistani military and government. According to the Geneva Centre for Training and Analysis of Terrorism, they may then have been transferred to North Waziristan.

The Taliban may have moved the Swiss couple to North Waziristan to leverage the skill of Moezeddine Garsallaoui, a Swiss citizen of Tunisian origins who is now thought to be a senior al Qaeda operative in North Waziristan, the Geneva Centre for Training and Analysis of Terrorism reported. Garsallaoui, who is also known as Moez al Kayrawani, speaks fluent Pashto, Arabic, German, French, and English.

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JFAC is launching a Ramadan Support project for our dear sister Aafia Siddiqui.

After having being abused for years, and now serving an unimaginably long sentence for a crime the entire world knows she did not commit, it might bring her hope and comfort to hear from the outside world during a month where we are usually surrounded by loving family and friends.
Here is what we need from YOU, her supporters:

1. A brief message of support.

2. What do you absolutely positively love about nature? Snap a picture of it and send it to us so we can share it with Aafia on your behalf!

Submit your messages and photos to: letters@justiceforaafia.org
The deadline for entries is: July 13th, 2011.

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Gordon Duff

JFAC STATEMENT ON SENTENCING OF AAFIA SIDDIQUI

Veterans Today Editor’s note:  “The entire staff of Veterans Today and her sister publications are outraged at Judge Berman’s abuses, not just in sentencing an innocent victim but in staging an unjust trial.  Serving the United States with honor has now become much more difficult.  Every American serving in Afghanistan is now facing new enemies because of this outrage.  I can think of nothing that could have been done to endanger the United States more than the actions of this court.”

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 www.justiceforaafia.org

On the afternoon of 23rd September 2010 Pakistani neuroscientist and mother of three Aafia Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years on five charges by Judge Berman in a Manhattan courtroom.

The Justice for Aafia Coalition released the following statement:

“We are deeply saddened by the harsh sentence passed on Dr Aafia Siddiqui by Judge Richard Berman today. At such a difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with Aafia’s family, who have been separated from her since March 2003.

It has now been over seven and a half years since Dr Siddiqui was abducted with her three young children by Pakistani and American agencies. She has since been separated from her children and family, detained in a series of secret prisons and physically and psychologically abused by her captors. Following a blatantly prejudiced and unfair trial in which little conclusive evidence of her guilt was presented, she was found guilty.

We hoped that Judge Berman would have opened his eyes to the manifest injustice that has been committed against Dr Siddiqui and repatriated her to her country. But it seems that Judge Berman was adamant in his position despite the enormous level of public support for Aafia. Last week, Iran, in a goodwill gesture, released Sarah Shourd, an American woman accused of espionage, a crime against the state punishable by death. We are disappointed that the United States has been unable to exercise a similar degree of mercy and leniency in the case of another innocent woman who stands accused of crimes against its government.

While we are disappointed by Judge Berman’s decision, we condemn in the strongest terms the stance of the Pakistani government towards this beloved daughter of the nation. While we must never look to the wolf for protection, we expect the shepherd to care for his flock. The Pakistani government has from the outset been complicit in Aafia’s disappearance and detention, and has displayed nothing but contempt for its people and dignity through its cowardly stance in requesting her repatriation. They are a stain upon the honourable reputation of the country.

JFAC will continue the struggle for justice for Dr Aafia to try and secure her freedom and unite her with her family and loved ones. We remind Aafia’s supporters that this struggle may seem tiresome but as Imam Ahmad advised his student, we will only find rest when our feet set foot in paradise.”

References:

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/03/30/gordon-duff-reliable-reports-of-rape-torture-and-religions-crimes-against-dr-aafia-by-bush-interrogators/
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/08/14/gordon-duff-dr-aafia-signatories-demand-repatriation-for-scientists-raped-by-cia-at-baghram/
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/03/04/admiral-sirohey-to-colon-powell-save-americas-honor/
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/03/03/gordon-duff-freeing-dr-aafia-a-matter-of-honor/
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/02/09/the-truth-about-us-justice/
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/02/07/gordon-duff-splitting-america-to-save-america/
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/02/06/taliban-returned-kidnapped-and-raped-housewife-or-we-will-execute-american-pow/
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/01/26/case-against-aafia-siddiqui-begins-to-unravel/

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/01/10/dr-a-fia-siddiqui-victim-of-bush-rape-and-kidnap-squad/

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By Dan Murphy, Staff writer

Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neurosurgeon who the US says has ties to Al Qaeda members, was sentenced to 86 years in prison for attempted murder today.

”Don’t get angry,” she said, according to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper. ”Forgive Judge Berman.”

Pakistanis protest on Sept. 23 in Islamabad, Pakistan to condemn the arrest of alleged Al Qaeda suspect Aafia Siddiqui. B. K. Bangash/AP

Aafia Siddiqui, a US-educated Pakistani neuroscientist whose lawyers argued is mentally unstable, was sentenced to 86 years in prison in a New York district court for trying to shoot American soldiers in an Afghanistan police station two years ago.

The saga of Ms. Siddiqui, a former student at Brandeis University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been closely followed in her home country, where she is widely viewed as innocent.

At the time of her conviction in February on two counts of attempted murder, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Islamabad. Hundreds of Pakistanis have been killed in US drone strikes in the lawless border areas near Afghanistan this year, and the public perception of the United States has turned sharply negative.

The reaction to her sentencing today was more muted, thought it came late in the day Pakistan time.

The events leading to her conviction took place in 2008, when she had been detained near the Afghanistan city of Ghazni. During an attempt to interrogate her by US soldiers, she grabbed an American rifle and opened fire. She hit no one, and was shot and wounded as she attempted to flee.

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By Stephen Lendman

Aafia Siddiqui Sentenced: A Grievous Miscarriage of Justice – by Stephen Lendman

On September 23 in federal court, US District Court Judge Richard Berman sentenced political prisoner Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years in prison. Outrage most accurately expresses this gross miscarriage of justice, compounding what she’s already endured following her March 30, 2003 abduction, imprisonment, torture, prosecution, and conviction on bogus charges.

Earlier articles explained her case in detail, accessed through the following links:

click here

click here

click here

In modern times, she’s one of American depravity’s most aggrieved victims, now given a virtual life sentence for a crime she didn’t and couldn’t have committed, explained in the above articles.

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From IAC:

We urge all individuals concerned with human rights to sign this international petition to U.S. and Pakistani government officials, urging the immediate repatriation to Pakistan of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

Let President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, Vice President Biden, Attorney General Holder, Sen. John Kerry (Chairman, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee), Congressional leaders, Pakistani President Zardari, Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani, Pakistani Interior Minister Malik, Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi, Ban Ki-Moon (Secretary-General, United Nations), UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, UN High Commissioner on Refugees, and members of the Pakistani and U.S. media know you want Aafia Siddiqui repatriated to her home in Pakistan immediately! Sign the petition here!

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LAHORE: Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday, while deciding a petition seeking release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, directed the government to use all diplomatic means to defend her before an American court holding her trial.

The judge also ordered the Foreign Office director general to write a letter to the American court and bring all material regarding her innocence to the court’s knowledge.

The judge remarked that Dr Aafia was a Pakistani citizen and it was the duty of the government to defend her.

Earlier, the petitioner Javed Iqbal Jaffree submitted that Dr Aafia was kidnapped along with her three children from Karachi in 2003, and that the government should be directed to seek her release from the US custody.

For more in-depth coverage please see:

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: info@justiceforaafia.org

As nations across the world mark Children’s Day, the Justice for Aafia Coalition (JFAC) calls upon the US administration to disclose the whereabouts and welfare of Suleman Siddiqui, the seven year old son of Aafia Siddiqui, missing since 2003. 

Maryam Hassan, founder of JFAC commented, 

“Today, on International Children’s Day, we call upon the UN to instigate a full investigation into the disappearance of Suleman Siddiqui, the youngest child of Aafia Siddiqui. Suleman was last seen when only six months old, when apprehended along with his mother and siblings in Karachi in March 2003. Whilst his elder siblings were eventually recovered, after seven years Suleman’s fate remains unknown, with horrific rumours in circulation that he may have been killed in US custody.

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