The Tragic Plight Of Aafia Siddiqui

By Ali Mohsin

25 March, 2016
Countercurrents.org

One of the defining features of Pakistan’s political and social reality is the callous disregard of the country’s ruling elites for the basic rights and well-being of ordinary citizens. Whether the issue is poverty, unemployment or the unavailability of justice, the response of the Pakistani government is typified by cold indifference, regardless of which political party or military strongman is running the country. This imperviousness to human suffering also comes across in the state’s attitude toward the plight of Pakistanis imprisoned overseas, including those facing execution at the hands of barbaric regimes such as Saudi Arabia.

In January, Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a non-profit human rights law firm, filed a petition in the Lahore High Court in which it criticized the current government’s failure to provide consular services to Pakistanis languishing on death row in the Gulf countries. The petition noted that there are presently 8,597 Pakistanis imprisoned overseas, out of which 4,357 are in the Middle East, “where they are deprived of fundamental rights”.

While the cruel treatment meted out to Pakistanis in the Gulf countries has been highlighted by the media, the petition filed by the JPP also brings to mind what is perhaps the most notorious example of the Pakistani state’s impotence when it comes to defending the rights of its citizens overseas: the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

In 2010, Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist, was convicted of the attempted murder of US personnel in Afghanistan’s Ghazni Province. The charges against her stemmed from an alleged shooting incident in 2008, the exact circumstances of which remain shrouded in mystery to this day. Following an incredibly unfair trial that was marred by irregularities, Siddiqui received an 86-year sentence, which she is now serving at a federal prison in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark once described Siddiqui’s case as the “worst case of individual injustice I have ever seen”. World-renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky has also spoken out in her defense. Protests calling for her release have been held in various US cities this month.

Siddiqui’s relatives and supporters, along with various human rights organizations, continue to maintain that she was the victim of a conspiracy designed to cover up the fact that she had been secretly held in US detention facilities where she was tortured and abused ever since she’d disappeared off the streets of Karachi in the spring of 2003 along with her three children.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Siddiqui and her children were abducted by Pakistani intelligence agents on their way to the airport in Karachi. Their whereabouts remained unknown until Siddiqui and her eldest son, Ahmed, were reported detained in Afghanistan in 2008, more than five years after their disappearance. US authorities have always denied that Siddiqui was in their custody prior to 2008, but several detainees at Bagram prison in Afghanistan, including Moazzam Beg, reported having seen her there.

The official account provided by US authorities regarding the incident that led to Siddiqui’s conviction strained credulity right from the start. According to the Americans, Siddiqui was apprehended by Afghan security services in July of 2008 after she was allegedly found wandering the streets with a bag containing a list of US targets for terrorist attacks, bomb-making instructions and various chemicals.

However, Siddiqui was never charged with any terror-related offense. Instead, she was accused of having seized a rifle and firing on US and Afghan security forces after several FBI agents and US Army officers arrived to take her into custody.

The subsequent trial she endured in New York was a mockery of justice. The local press dubbed her “Lady Al Qaeda,” assuming her guilt before any evidence was heard. Throughout the course of the trial, the presiding judge had bent over backwards to accommodate the prosecutors. Siddiqui’s lawyers had criticized the intense security measures put in place during the trial, which obviously reinforced the idea that Siddiqui posed a security threat to the US.

During the trial, Assistant US Attorney Jenna Dabbs revealed photographs of the room where the prosecution claimed the shooting occurred. However, Carlo Rosatti, an FBI firearms expert who had investigated the case, was later forced to admit he had found “no shell casings, no bullets, no bullet fragments, no evidence the gun [the soldier’s M-4 rifle] was fired.”

Moreover, the judge had barred Siddiqui from speaking about events prior to her arrest in July of 2008 during her testimony. Nevertheless, Siddiqui repeatedly told the jury that she was held in secret prisons by US authorities, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported at the time. She informed the jury of how she was shot right after she peeked through a curtain in search of an escape route. She had added that it would be absurd to believe that a soldier would leave his gun where a supposedly dangerous suspect could gain possession of it.

“It’s too crazy,” she said. “It’s just ridiculous. I didn’t do that.”

Siddiqui was also asked by a US attorney about the contents of her bag, which allegedly contained chemicals, bomb-making instructions and a list of US targets, Siddiqui said, “I can’t testify to that, the bag was not mine, so I didn’t necessarily go through everything.”

Siddiqui’s attorneys had said at the time that the bag and its contents were planted evidence. Her attorney, Elaine Whitfield Sharp, said back in 2008 that Siddiqui had been carrying what amounted to “conveniently incriminating evidence.”

“Of course they found all this stuff on her. It was planted on her. She is the ultimate victim of the American dark side,” another one of her attorneys had told the Associated Press in 2008.

While Siddiqui had been prevented from discussing her ordeal prior to 2008, the officer who shot her was permitted to describe how he’d been injured in a totally unrelated roadside bombing in Afghanistan, weeping as he told his story. While having absolutely no relevance to the trial, the soldier’s wounds were had been invoked in a transparent attempt by prosecutors to influence the jury.

Furthermore, the trial had also been marked by discordant and contradictory testimony from prosecution witnesses. For example, FBI Special Agent Bruce Kamerman had testified that Siddiqui had grabbed the assault rifle in a fit of rage. However, he was clearly frustrated when one of Siddiqui’s lawyers produced his hand-written notes in which there was no mention of her grabbing the gun.

Despite the tenuous case of the prosecution, Siddiqui was found guilty and sentenced to 86 years in prison, sparking protests across Pakistan.

Aafia Siddiqui’s daughter Mariam was eventually returned to the family home in 2010, with no explanation of how she got there or where she had been. Siddiqui’s youngest child, Suleiman, hasn’t been seen since 2003 and is presumed dead.

Last year, Aafia Siddiqui’s sister, Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court in which she stated that she had been denied permission to meet her sister and that only periodic phone calls were allowed with gaps of up to a year. She mentioned that all of her requests to the government regarding her sister had been ignored. Fearing the worst, she also asked the court to direct the Pakistani government to provide an update on her sister’s current status, as well as her mental and physical health. On March 14, in response to the petition, the federal government told the court it could not do anything about the situation since Pakistan did not have an extradition treaty with the US.

Prior to his coming to power in 2013, Nawaz Sharif had written a letter to former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani asking him take action for the release of Aafia Siddiqui. Since taking office, however, Sharif has predictably shown little interest in her plight. Siddiqui was probably the last thing on his mind when he met with US President Barack Obama late last year. Indeed, Sharif, who once referred to Siddiqui as the “Daughter of the Nation", was keen not to ruffle feathers in Washington amidst improving US-Pakistan relations.

Unfortunately, with a handful of exceptions, the only people consistently taking up this issue are militant Islamists. Over the past few years, various militants have tried to free Siddiqui through prisoner swaps with the US. Last August, the terrorist group Daesh offered to release an American hostage in exchange for Siddiqui, among other demands that were all ultimately rejected.

Pakistan’s venal and craven elites bear full responsibility for the horrific ordeal of Aafia Siddiqui and her children. One can only hope that the Pakistani working class, long fed up with the reactionary Islamabad-Washington nexus and the grossly unequal social order in the country, will make them pay a heavy price some day.

The writer holds a Master's degree in Political Science from Long Island University. He is a freelance writer and activist based in New York. He can be reached at [email protected]