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The Grey Lady of Bagram: Dr. Aafia Siddiqui - Kidnapped, Tortured and Now Arraigned
temporal
One day in March 2003, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui ordered a cab to take her and her three children (oldest 4, youngest an infant) to the Karachi Airport from her residence in Gulshan. She had not been seen since until her arraignment in US District Court two days ago, Aug. 5.
Her recent appearance has to do with a series of events that began with an appeal by the Asian Human Rights Commission.
Aafia Siddiqui has a biology degree from MIT and earned her PhD in cognitive neuroscience from Brandeis University. The only charge claimed by FBI (Newsweek June 23, 2003) against Dr. Siddiqui is one of renting a post office box in the name of a Majid Khan, an alleged Al Qaeda suspect.
The US was forced to admit that it had Dr. Siddiqui when two weeks ago in a press conference British journalist Yvonne Ridley demanded that the US hand over Prisoner 650, whom she dubbed The Grey Lady of Bagram. Yvonne Ridley quoted Elaine Whitfield Sharp, A human rights advocate and Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's lawyer: "We believe Aafia has been in custody ever since she disappeared and we're not willing to believe that the discovery of Aafia in Afghanistan is coincidence."
Teeth Maestro writes:
"Ms Ridley, who went to Pakistan to appeal for help, said the case came to her attention when she read the book, The Enemy Combatant, by a former Guantanamo detainee, Moazzam Begg. After being seized in February 2002 in Islamabad, Mr. Begg was held in detention centres in Kandahar and Bagram for about a year before he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay. He recounted his experiences in the book after his release in 2005. Mr. Imran Khan, the leader of Justice Party (T.I) suspects that prisoner 650 is Dr. Afia Siddiqui and USA and Pakistani authorities are hiding facts of 'Prisoner 650'."
Three months prior to her kidnapping on March 30, 2003 she divorced her husband, Dr. Amjad Ali, a US based anesthesiologist. In May 2003, Mazhar Abbas wrote for Newsline:
"In yet another twist, her husband Amjad Khan, whom Afia divorced three months before her disappearance, is also apparently under suspicion*. According to Ismat Siddiqui, Amjad had wanted his eldest son to go to a madrassa, while Afia wanted her children to get an "English education." Mrs. Siddiqui hinted that her former son-in-law was wanted by the FBI, but was not sure in what connection. Amjad Khan has no political background nor is he affiliated with any group, but his staunch Islamic beliefs may have motivated him to back or support Islamic extremist groups. According to Mrs. Siddiqui, he used to call his wife and mother-in-law "American agents." [* Dr. Siddiqui’s husband allegedly purchased night-vision goggles and body armour on the internet.]
In a news report filed Aug. 5 from New York City, Khalid Hasan writes: "According to a FBI announcement, officers of the Ghazni province Afghanistan National Police arrested Siddiqui when they searched her handbag and found numerous documents describing the creation of explosives, excerpts from the Anarchist’s Arsenal, and descriptions of various US landmarks. It says that on July 18, a party of US personnel, including two FBI special agents, a US Army warrant officer, a US Army captain, and US military interpreters, arrived at the Afghan facility where Siddiqui was being held."
The kidnapping, detention, and allegations of rape and torture of this frail woman, her disappearance from Karachi in 2003, her reappearance in NYC Tuesday under intense public scrutiny, the "ridiculous" statements put out by FBI, all led to a travesty of justice for this woman.
If there was a fair trial, the truth would come out.
And while the truth would emerge, it is too far fetched to speculate that all the participants — the Agencies in Pakistan, the Afghan Agencies, the FBI and US forces and the Bush Administration official involved — will face the music they should if found guilty.
The Hague, anyone?
Sanjay
August 7, 2008
01:47 AM
But is her voice being suppressed? For instance, would the US seek to CENSOR her or SUPPRESS HER STATEMENTS on flimsy grounds? If those who are expressing support for her ARE THEMSELVES GUILTY OF CENSORSHIP AND SUPPRESSION OF VIEWPOINTS, then wouldn't that undermine their own credibility?
As I've said before, don't protest the fur trade while you yourself wear fur. Don't protest animal slaughter if you're a meat eater. Don't protest the suppression of someone else's freedom of expression, if you yourself are suppressing freedom of expression.
Don't be an extremist masquerading in the sheepskin of a "smiling moderate".
Aafia Siddiqui would be allowed to have her say in front of a New York judge. There would be no way of SUPPRESSING or CENSORING her statements, which would (and should) stay on record. And this is because the US Federal Justice system follows its proscribed procedures, and doesn't flout them, like some people do (aforementioned "smiling moderates").
I would hope that these truths would be obvious enough to be respected by so-called "smiling moderates".
Or should such comments be made to DISAPPEAR WITHOUT A TRACE, like Aafia Siddiqui?
Meanwhile, in the likely event that ISI were the ones who nabbed Siddiqui, it would be further grounds to bring that rogue organization under civilian oversight, so that it cannot continue its terrorizing activities, which are well known on both sides of the border.
James Prior
August 7, 2008
04:19 AM
The FBI are running scared because it is obvious they have held and tortured this woman in Afghanistan for years. The truth will come out eventually but in the land of the free anyone who tells the truth is silenced.
America's freedoms and democracy do not exist. it is a police state run by some incredibly dumb folk!
I just wish they would wake up to the fact that the rest of the world is not as stupid as the guy in the White House or the morons in the FBI.
anand
August 7, 2008
09:33 AM
but are people you saying that the war against terrorism is wrong? ive heard US is on Gods side
temporal
URL
August 7, 2008
03:29 PM
But is her voice being suppressed?
we will find out soon now that the US has admitted that she is under their jurisdiction
earlier, when she went missing, (kidnapped with her three children) away from public scrutiny was another way of silencing her and denying her her legal rights (innocent until proven guilty)
the role of pakistani, afghan and us agencies also needs to be examined in this case
Kelly
August 7, 2008
05:11 PM
You don't know that she was detained and tortured for five years. That is based on what Yvonne Ridley claims, but she does not have a shred of evidence. Neither do Siddiqui's family members. If they didn't know where she was and couldn't contact her, how do they know she was detained and tortured? Again, no one can provide even the smallest piece of evidence. The US criminal charges seem far-fetched, but so do Ridley's claims. Why are they being blindly accepted as truth? Like consipracy theories much?
temporal
URL
August 7, 2008
05:18 PM
kelly:
it was not yvonne but britsih national moazzam begg {kidnapped from pakistan, survived gitmo via bagram) who wrote about her in "the enemy combatant"
you are right about specualtions over her detainment and torture... she may well be backpacking all over the globe with her children rasing funds for cancer research these past five years
Guido
August 7, 2008
06:17 PM
JP,
Astute and insightful analysis. Well done!
Ciao, Guido
commonsense
August 7, 2008
08:58 PM
Kelly,
I read somewhere that she was actually collecting snails in Ireland.
LogicGirl
URL
August 8, 2008
01:25 AM
Worrying thing is the absence of news about her chidren, and the young boy who was found with her when she was allegedly 'found'.
http://www.thelogicgirl.com
Truth_Seeker
August 8, 2008
02:25 AM
A picture is worth more than a thousand words!
Her recent snapshot shows a frail, tired woman whose gone through a lot of suffering. Check out her earlier photographs depicting a healthy person. Please lets refrain from what her believes were of whom she was married to or what the hell was she doing in Afghanistan.
Secondly, where in the hell are her children?
Remember people, it has been repeatedly published that she divorced/separated from her first husband primarily because of her "western views on education".
So stop getting into depth on what Yvonne Riddley said or what Mr. Begg wrote in his book, just look at Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's picture above, doesn't it say something?
Sohail
August 9, 2008
04:44 PM
SANJAY:
We are talking about Dr Affai but your shot on ISI is tasteless - what about Indian Intellignec agnecy? They are not distributing flowers in Kashmir - That is most brutal Organization in sub-continent
Sohail
August 9, 2008
04:51 PM
Kelly:
FBI Claims that while she was arested, she hidden behind the curtain and took the GUN which FBI officail put on table and then she was able to fire on them and she manage to miss them - what kind of childish stroy is that? FBI should be ashmed of what kind of crap they will put on - and SDALY the GREAT AMERICAN JUSTICE WILL BUY THAT CRAP
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