Aafia: The Mystery

Speech Given by Karina on the Boston Common

Most of the world has stopped thinking about the long-incarcerated detainees of the War on Terror that was declared by George W. Bush after 9/11/2001. In truth, Federal government and Israel-connected Homeland Security agents had already started investigating and raiding Islamic organizations and charities around the US earlier that year. Of all the Muslim political prisoners of the US, one person in particular stands out: the graceful, articulate and brilliant young Dr. Aafia Siddique.  

All the other Muslim War On Terror prisoners who were extrajudicially rendered in Afghanistan or Pakistan and sold for bounty to the US have been male (to my knowledge). Everyone at Guantanamo is male. All of the Afghan militants held in Bagram prison are male. Only Aafia Siddique is female. Long before anyone knew her name, she was known as the “Grey Lady of Bagram.” She and her children were held and abused for years, separately, inside the walls of the US military prison in Afghanistan. 

After the US invaded Afghanistan they dropped leaflets down from airplanes offering between $2000-6000 per head for any suspected terrorists. As a result, a market was created for kidnappers. Thousands of random men were detained and handed over to the US for interrogation. Aafia Siddique was disappeared in Pakistan in the spring of 2003.

In the recently published book, “Don’t Forget Us Here: Lost and Found in Guantanamo,” Mansoor Adayfi, a Yemeni tourist thus detained without charge, explained that while there were a handful of prisoners there that actually knew Osama bin Laden or belonged to some kind of Islamic fighting group, the vast majority were completely innocent, non-violent people being held for years and years and brutally humiliated and tortured in an attempt to force them to confess to being people they were not, and that they had committed crimes they knew nothing about. 

It has always been a mystery as to why Aafia and her children were abducted while on their way to visit relatives. Was she the victim of a vindictive ex-husband’s slander? Did someone utter her name while being waterboarded? Was it her charity efforts as part of the Muslim Students Association to collect boots and winter clothing to send to displaced families fleeing war?

Aged 34, speaking fluent English, having earned a PhD in Child Development at MIT and Brandeis before returning to her native country of Pakistan, Aafia with her gentle eyes and happy demeanor does not fit the profile of an Islamic terrorist. It seems unlikely that this arrest, made most likely by ISI, Pakistani security services, was a random error in judgment.

An important clue emerged as a result of the Peace and Justice Foundation’s recent series of Freedom Rallies in various cities to support and raise awareness of US political prisoner Dr. Aafia Siddique. While most of America has forgotten her, or has no idea who she is, a very enthusiastic detractor crawled out of the woodwork: Sam Westrop, director of the Zionist extremist hate group that stalks Muslim leaders, “Islamist Watch.” He published a very dangerous hit piece on Aafia’s supporters in both the Middle East Forum and National Review, https://www.meforum.org/62644/american-islamists-advocate-for-lady-al-qaeda - publications with long and close connections to Bush-era neocons and anti-Muslim smear campaigners Daniel Pipes and Steve Emerson, who facilitated the imprisonment and deportation of Muslim and Arab academics for their political views by feeding false intelligence to the US government via their “think tank” the Investigative Project and other extreme right-wing racist organizations whose main objective is trying to prevent Palestinians and American Muslims attain political equality. After these groups failed to prevent local Muslims from building the golden-domed Roxbury Mosque, https://rense.com/general76/who.htm I had totally forgot about them. 

But here Sam Westrop was, taking pictures of protesters without asking their permission and trying to get an interview with Mauri Saalakhan, the primary organizer of the event. Sam’s intense enthusiasm for the cause of undermining the case to free Aafia Siddique after 18 years really made it crystal clear that taking her down was one of his organization’s pet projects. 

But why did the pro-Israel lobbyists target this cute little grad student? Westrop leaves us a very important clue by linking to a press conference, covered by CNN, two years after she was abducted.  http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/05/26/terror.threat.transcript/ US Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller on May 27, 2004 displayed Aafia’s face alongside 6 men declared as America’s Most Wanted. Americans were to be “on the lookout” for them. Mueller claimed, “Aafia Siddique is an al Qaeda operative and facilitator, she attended colleges in the Boston area, and is believed to have left Boston in January of 2003.” Literally that’s all they could come up with. Bent over in agony from bullet wounds to her stomach, Aafia was sentenced to 86 years in US Federal prison by Judge Richard Berman for “attempted murder” of heavily armed US soldiers in an Afghan police station in 2008 as she allegedly tried to escape from custody. Her supposed “crime” was committed in Afghanistan by a Pakistani citizen. So by what stretch of the imagination should she go to trial in the United States? Keep in mind that al Qaida is not even known for recruiting female militants. The neocons have always been known to use the labels “al Qaeda” and “Islamofascist” extremely loosely. 

It sure looks like these right wing Zionist criminals were intimately involved in providing false intelligence to the US government in order to help the US create an illusion of “doing something” against the “Islamic threat” while simultaneously getting rid of a popular Muslim community organizer and public speaker. Boston neocon fingerprints are all over this case. Their time-worn approach, which they also used against the Roxbury mosque, was to feed fake terrorist allegations to the media, while simultaneously creating court cases over lesser crimes like money laundering or even civil infractions such as parking zoning laws. Similarly, at Aafia’s trial there was zero mention of her belonging to any terrorist group even though news agencies had claimed that she had gone to LIberia to sell diamonds in order to raise funds for al Qaeda.

In 1996, Professor Noam Chomsky said fondly of Aafia, who was his student, “Aafia Siddique is an Institute in her self. She will bring change wherever she goes.”

Did the FBI target Aafia as the next Malcolm or the next H Rap Brown? 

Aafia Siddique was an enthusiastic Muslim community organizer who was diligently engaged in outreach to explain Islam to her American fellow students, a philosopher who taught feminist theory based on theology, and who encouraged her fellow Muslim students to upgrade their religion. She was very much part of the movement to modernize Islamic political and moral thought to make it make sense for this century. She was a Hafiz of the Quran. She was also an idealist. Katherine Ozment describes in Boston Magazine how far-fetched seem the claims that this young mother and student had the time or the resources, let alone the desire to join al Qaida. https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2006/05/15/whos-afraid-of-aafia-siddiqui/  

Retired Professor Chomsky issued a statement to be read at the Freedom Rally in Boston that took place on October 23, 2021:

“The US “war on terror” has left a shameful record of torture, vicious brutality, brutal crimes of state, still continuing.  Aafiaa Siddiqui’s ordeal is one of the most disgraceful chapters of this trail of horror.  She should be freed and compensated to the extent that it is at all possible. And we should all be asking ourselves whether we want this is what we want our country to be.”

International Women's Day Rally for Dr. Aafia at MIT March 8, Boston

Our America: Boston 

http://newtrendmag.bmetrack.com/c/v?e=906195&c=131B8&t=1&l=189890F&email=8pIT9wlLCJXXlm51ccjGg5q4wOJ2jUnu&relid=4833283A

On March 8, International Women's Day,  a Rally was held  for Dr. Aafia at MIT where she Studied. 

 

Photo of Aafia rally. Sis. Karin speaking [right].

Among the numerous Speakers was Sis. Karin. This is what she said: 

  

"My name is Karin Friedemann also known as Maria Hussain. I was an active member of the Muslim Students' Association at Wayne State University [Detroit]. serving as Publication Secretary from 1995-1996.I did not know Dr. Aafia Siddiqui but she was an activist at MIT around the same time as me.

Dr. Aafia's sincere and humble enthusiasm for promoting Women's rights in Islam - the Rights of Muslim women to Education, to earn and keep their own money, as well as the protection of Motherhood. She argued that a woman must be educated in order to be the best mother for her children, because an ignorant mother would raise ignorant children. 

Dr. Aafia also cared deeply about the suffering of Muslims in war torn areas around the world. She viewed the Global Muslim Community as one body. And if even one small part of the body is in pain, the entire body cannot sleep. [Hadith.] This point of view that emphasized empathy and action has since been demonized by the powers that be, causing many good people to live in fear. 

However, during the 1990's, Muslims in America experienced a sense of self-confidence, idealism and freedom that can even be compared to the 1960's. American Muslims were filled with faith in themselves and the hope that we could make the world a better place. 

With this level of enthusiasm, Dr. Aafia told the Boston Globe during Islamic Awareness Week that, "If Americans were to learn about the beauty of Islam, they would all want to become Muslims!" 

Dr. Aafia and I were also both very active in the Muslim Students' Association, raising awareness about the wars in Bosnia and Chechnya. I feel a deep sisterhood with her because we both went door to door collecting boots and winter gear to send to Bosnia, where many people were made homeless by the war. Both of us collected so many donations that boxes were stacked to the ceiling in the Muslim Students' prayer hall, leaving hardly any room to walk, inspiring many brothers to drive vans full of donations to the charity foundation in Chicago, from where the boots etc. would be shipped by container load to Bosnia.

Nobody knows exactly why Dr. Aafia Siddique was targeted by US 'intelligence' to be abducted and disappeared, but her student activism may have played a role, to send American Muslims, and Muslims in America, a chilling message. That they are not considered equal citizens, that they are not granted Constitutional freedom of speech or free travel. That Muslims are not free to do fundraising campaigns, that their charities would be closed down and their assets frozen if they tried to participate in political activism or humanitarian projects. 

After 2001, Islam in America entered a dark period in history from which we have not yet emerged. It even seems that the forces of hate and destruction are growing more entrenched in the US political establishment and media.

There is one thing we can do to turn things around and bring us back to a time when Muslims didn't have to be afraid to get on an airplane or afraid to donate money to a political cause. We can and we must free Dr. Aafia Siddiqui . We must show the world that Muslims in the US are equal citizens that should enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of travel, freedom to promote their beliefs, just as any other group is free to promote their interests and their beliefs and to donate money to causes they care about. 

We need to demonstrate that it's not acceptable for the US government to kidnap people and hold them for years in secret prisons being raped and tortured, without any charge against them. The America that I am working for is not one that makes an example out of student activists by concocting contrived allegations of terrorism against them. Our country's freedom and integrity requires that we free Aafia." 

Taliban prison break supported by locals

On September 14, 2015 at 2:30am Taliban fighters liberated hundreds of prisoners from a prison outside the city of Ghazni, killing four policemen and wounding seven. 148 of the 355 freed prisoners are said to be milit.ants charged with "national security crimes," including a few local Taliban leaders. 80 prisoners were left behind, and three escaped prisoners were recaptured.

"Around 2:30am six Taliban insurgents wearing military uniforms attacked Ghazni prison. First they detonated a car bomb in front of the gate, fired an RPG and then raided the prison," deputy provincial governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi told the Associated Free Press.He also said one militant blew himself up at the prison gates, allowing others to force open cells.

Three of the attackers were killed, one of whom was a former inmate who had been released. The prison raid was one of ten other Taliban attacks on the city that same night.

"We are the Taliban. We have come to free you from this jail," shouted the six men who entered the compound after breaking the locks. The attack lasted several hours.

Nasir Ahmad Faqiri, a member of the provincial council, said that there had been indications that day that the Taliban were preparing to attack. The Afghan intelligence service was trying to move 20 senior Taliban prisoners to Kabul, but they protested and wanted more time in Ghazni.

"The prison does not meet even 10 percent of standard — it is soft, old and built of mud," Mr. Faqiri said.

Three years ago, 500 Taliban fighters were freed from Sarposa Prison in Kandahar through a tunnel dug from the outside, which took five months to dig and was equipped with electricity and piped in air. In 2008, militants released 1,200 inmates from the Kandahar prison in a double suicide attack where two explosive trucks were driven into the entranceway, killing 15 guards.

These prison break stories are the stuff of legends. These brave men risked and even donated their lives for the sake of their fellow man, to help their brothers escape from the torturous conditions of Afghan prisons, which make the holocaust look like a birthday party! Freeing prisoners of war is one of the most important aspects of true faith.

The fact that only three of the 355 released prisoners were recaptured demonstrates that the general population must be hiding them in their homes. The general public is actually aiding and abetting the fugitives. They are not calling the police to turn them in. The Taliban prison break clearly has widespread popular support. Even though most of the released prisoners were not even political prisoners, instead of fearing the criminals on the loose, the locals seem to be more offended by the use of the prison by an occupying government to oppress the population, keeping everyone living in fear. Though in truth, if the tables were turned the prison could possibly be turned into a torture den for anti-Taliban military men in a tit-for-tat situation.

In the absence of true governance, the powers that be can resort to kidnapping and murdering their political opponents or anyone they feel like kidnapping and murdering, or locking them in a dungeon. Once there, there is no due process. No way to get out. No lawyer who is going to get you off. No laws about treatment of prisoners. Even when the prisoner is an American-educated woman such as Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, there is no legal way to take her out of an Afghan prison except to isolate her in an American prison. Why? Is it because she has seen too much and could tell all to the American public if given a chance? In any case, the people who live around the prisons know all about what goes on in there and they are surely celebrating the release of their countrymen, in order that they can fight another day for the liberation of their country.

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1621.htm

Mobilization for Sister Aafia Siddiqui

Brother Mauri Saalakhan has informed New Trend that there are mobilizations planned for March 2016, to bring public attention to the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui in Boston, New York, DC, and Fort Worth, Texas. Please urge everyone to invite the entire community to participate.

Sister Aafia in many ways is like the patron saint of the Islamic Movement, even though she did not choose that role. "If the US isn't doing anything about it, if the Pakistanis don't do anything about it, people like Daesh (the Islamic State) will exploit the case," her sister told the Pakistan Tribune. Aafia was a very vibrant and enthusiastic student activist at MIT and Brandeis, who was obsessed with helping other Muslims. She organized a campaign to collect winter boots for Bosnia. The winter boots campaign was initiated by Benevolence International Foundation, whose founder Enaam Ernaout is currently facing loss of citizenship after serving 8 years in prison after the charity was targeted by Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft in the Bush years.

This woman is very close to my heart because at the time, I too was collecting winter boots for Bosnia. I was going door to door asking for donations of boots and winter clothing. My local mosques were stacked to the ceiling with donations, which we then trucked over to Chicago.

I believe Sister Aafia was targeted by the Zionists for all kinds of wild accusations because she appeared in the Boston Globe, speaking for her Islamic Students' Association, saying: "Islam is such a beautiful religion that if Americans learned about it, they would all want to become Muslims." The Jews twisted her into someone who was trying to impose Shariah on America.

Is it a coincidence that a short time later, she and her children were abducted from a taxi in Pakistan in 2003? They just disappeared. Aafia was then imprisoned at Bagram, a US run prison, where she was raped and brutalized.

Nobody knew anything about her whereabouts until the day there was a Taliban attack on Bagram Prison. A suicide bomber exploded the entranceway of the prison, killing security guards. Hundreds of prisoners were released back into their community. They were all telling the same story. There is a woman prisoner among the men, and they could hear her constantly wailing for her children, who had been taken from her by the soldiers. The baby is presumed dead. It was extremely emotionally disturbing to listen to, even for these hardened men.

A British official, Lord Nazir Ahmed was alerted as to the situation by his constituents. I ran into him visiting a mosque in the Boston area and talked to him about it. After the UK inquiry as to the identity of this woman, a few days later Aafia was said to be "found wandering around Afghanistan" totally disoriented, then re-arrested by the United States.

"She was dropped off in Ghazni (Afghanistan) and reunited with her son in 2008, near the governor's compound; later taken back into custody and shot by an American soldier while awaiting re-interrogation," Mauri Saalakhan explained.

An eyewitness said that Aafia, when she saw the US soldiers, thought that they were here to save her. So she started walking towards them. However, she was shot in the stomach. In order to clean up their story, the US Army claims that she attacked the soldier. She was sentenced to 86 years in prison for the crime of being shot by a US soldier. They left the bullet inside her for months. Then, when she finally got surgery, it never properly healed. She went from being the prettiest girl in the world to a bent over old lady in a very short span of time.

Now, nobody even knows if she is alive or dead. She is imprisoned at Federal Medical Center Carswell, the same place where environmental activist Marie Mason and Attorney Lynne Stewart were held before her release, praise God.

"When Aafia left, couple of hours or so later, there was a knock at the door. My mom walked to the gate and asked 'who is it?'" Fowzia Siddiqui, Aafia's sister told AFP.

"He... said something like: 'If you say anything or report this to the police, you will have four dead bodies'."

Fowzia Siddiqui is a medical doctor. She has not been granted permission to visit with her sister or even to speak with her on the phone. This is very unusual prison treatment for an incarcerated person in the United States. We need to step in.

The Jericho Movement is also trying to get an independent doctor to determine the health status of various political prisoners. The system so far is preventing it. As prisoners age and experience decades of incarceration, it is vital that we are able to send our own doctors in to check on them.

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1634.htm

Movement Supporting Dr. Aafia Calls for Countrywide Protests

February 21, 2016 

[NOTE: I apologize for neglecting to post for a few months. The catch-up posts will be in the wrong chronological order. After that I promise to try and keep up my blog.]

March 16 marks 13 years that Dr. Aafia Siddiqui has been wrongfully imprisoned. Aafia was a foreign student from Pakistan who graduated with honors from MIT and Brandeis University. She and her children were kidnapped in Pakistan and held without charge for five years in Afghan prisons under US control. According to Reuters, Siddiqui was wanted by the FBI in 2003 for questioning for possible ties to al Qaeda and was detained by Pakistani authorities. Things went terribly wrong, and rather than admit their grievous error, which included killing her baby, the US accused her of attacking a US soldier - even though she is the one who got a bullet in her stomach. Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark has described Aafia's ordeal as "the worst case of individual injustice I have ever witnessed."
AafiaMovement.com/the-aafia-mobilizations 

The Boston Rally on International Women's Day will be the first of four mobilizations for Dr. Aafia Siddique also planned for March 2016 in NY, DC and Fort Worth, Texas. Help us spread the word and build toward these actions. Contact Br. Mauri Saalakhan at peacethrujustice@aol.com for exact time and place, and to volunteer.

The issue is becoming increasingly urgent. There was an attack on Aafia's family's house in Karachi at 3am on February 16! The attempted kidnapping of Aafia's children occurred just a couple days after a February 14 huge Valentine's Day "We Love Aafia" march took place, which included many young children. Asmat Siddiqui, the mother of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, said that the attack of terrorists on the house of Dr Aafia in Karachi and the threats to the family are a message to them to keep silent on the issue of Aafia. The family is refusing to back down from their mission to bring Aafia home, despite being under threat of their lives; surely we have a deep obligation to support them!

In a statement released Tuesday, Aafia's mother said that the politicians have disappointed the nation of Pakistan on the issue of Aafia. They only did politics on her name. She appealed to the chief of army, Staff Gen Raheel Sharif, to play his role in bringing home Aafia and become immortal in history like Muhammad Bin Qasim. Briefing the media on the details of the attack on her house, Asmat Siddiqui said on the night between Monday and Tuesday at 3:00am, three unknown armed terrorists reached her house. They fed the dog some intoxicating substance and later beat up a volunteer of the Aafia Movement, Amir, who was guarding the house.

They asked Amir to tell them in which rooms the children of Aafia reside and which schools they attend. When Amir refused to reply to their questions, they told him they already knew. Then he was tortured mercilessly and fell unconscious. Between 6 and 7:00am when the occupants of the house came out, they found Amir injured and tied up with ropes.

Dr. Fowzia said police were informed about the incident. She asked which type of national security plan is this, in which the citizens are not provided any security. She said 13 years ago, on the day after the kidnapping of Aafia Siddiqui [and her children], we were also told to keep silent; otherwise, four dead bodies would be found on the back street of their house. She said this threat is being employed again "to pressure us not to raise our voices for the release of Aafia Siddiqui."

"As the Siddiqui family, frontline supporters of the Aafia Movement-Pakistan, and supporters from the US branch of the International Free Aafia Movement have already made clear, We Will Not Be Intimidated into a posture of Silence and Inaction! The struggle will continue!" writes Mauri Saalakhan, Aafia's unofficial ambassador in the US, who is organizing the upcoming mobilizations.

He is asking Muslims in the US to bombard the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, DC, with CALLS and E-MAILS. Phone: 202-243-6500 / E-mail: info@embassyofpakistanusa.org 

In your communication please express your concern regarding the safety of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's family in Karachi, Pakistan; and demand that the Pakistani government do more to get their citizen released and returned home where she belongs.

Who were the kidnappers? What political objective could possibly be gained by re-kidnapping Aafia's children? Most importantly - what can we do, what will we do as Americans to bring attention to our fellow Muslims and neighbors regarding the plight of this young woman, who has become the international face of the Disappeared? Her situation is not that unique. Political kidnappings are quite common throughout the world.

However, this is a girl who went to school in Massachusetts, who was known. She gave speeches during Muslim events, she was a leader in enthusiastic charity efforts and was even quoted in the news saying that if Americans learned about the beauty of Islam, they would all want to become Muslims! You can't just disappear someone like that and pretend it didn't happen. And indeed, she has become the Daughter of Pakistan. In many ways, her fate will determine the future of her nation.

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1642.htm

Non-Muslims Supporting Muslims: The Aafia Case Appeal; Stiff Attitude of CAIR Rep.

March 6, 2016

Saturday February 27, the ISBCC in Roxbury (Boston) held a well-attended event called "Mercy and Justice" which welcomed a rally led by Veterans for Peace and included Quakers and other peace activist groups in a statement of solidarity with their Muslim neighbors. Imam Talib Mandee, who is a veteran, and Rev James Todd gave a convocation. Many veterans spoke, including a very old WWII veteran, some emphasizing Muslim veterans and others saying war is bad and we are not enemies.

The event was attended by Boston police commissioner Bob Evans who spoke on behalf of the Mayor saying "We love Muslims."

VFP Statement of Solidarity

"We, as veterans of the United States military, stand against the targeting, hatred, bigotry, and Islamophobia currently being directed towards the Muslim community.

Muslims are not the enemy. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world and only a very small percentage support ISIS or other terrorist organizations. Many Muslims are U.S. citizens and are as loyal, hardworking and patriotic as all other Americans. Muslims serve in every branch of the United States Military. Today within the United States, many Muslims are afraid in their own homes and neighborhoods. They often live in fear that other Americans may target them for harassment, threats, and in some cases physical harm, because of who they are and where they worship.

As veterans who have served this country both in war and peace-time, we declare that this hatred, verbal abuse, and physical hostility being directed towards our Muslim friends, neighbors and co-workers is not in keeping with the American values of fostering brotherhood and sisterhood with our fellow Americans. This type of bigotry in 2016 is simply unacceptable, Un-American and we call for its immediate end."

www.smedleyvfp.com 

Also addressing the crowd included Dr. John Robbins, representing CAIR. He thanked the vets for fighting for our freedom and for their service to our country.

After the speeches, everyone was invited inside for lunch while they had a question and answer session about the Islamic religion. During this time I handed out the flyer for the Aafia mobilization and told her story to everyone who would listen, both Muslim and non-Muslims. Many of the VFP and other activists knew of Aafia while many people, including Muslims, did not know anything about Aafia's story. Everyone was polite and some became downright emotional when they heard of this travesty of justice. Everyone I spoke to promised to find out more, come to the demo, and/or spread the word.

After speaking with me, one brother enthusiastically approached the CAIR representative for his support. I noticed him giving Dr. Robbins my flyer so I walked over to them. The brother asked him if he knew about Aafia's case. Dr. Robbins said, "Yes we know about her" sort of curtly. I said, "I realize CAIR doesn't usually deal with political prisoners." Robbins became very stiff and tall, reminded me of an FBI agent. "We are satisfied with the decision of our nation," he stated and would not say anything more, even though I insisted that this issue is important to our nation first of all because of Constitutional protections - if you can be kidnapped and put into prison without any charges, that is unacceptable. And furthermore, this issue is very important to the Pakistani people and therefore plays a huge role in international relations. Seeing that I wasn't getting anywhere with him I wandered off to VFP president Barry Ladendorf and others who were extremely supportive.

All in all it was a nice experience. It was great to see all my favorite kind of people in one place together. I hope to see more and more of us working together. Since then CAIR seems to be toning down the anti-Aafia rhetoric. Hopefully they will join us in the struggle.

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1644.htm

Aafia Siddique’s Appeal Mysteriously Withdrawn

TMO 

On October 9, 2014, Dr. Aafia Siddique’s family announced that US District Judge Richard Berman had without any warning ordered the case closed for the appeal of her conviction. The openly hostile, Zionist activist judge, the same judge who sentenced Aafia in early 2010, denies this. The Nation, Pakistan reported that Berman stated he had “allowed” Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to withdraw what could be the last appeal of her conviction on charges of attempted murder. Berman claimed that Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence at Carswell prison medical centre in Texas, had ‘clearly and unequivocally’ stated her intent to end the appeal. Berman added that even if the appeal had continued, he likely would have ruled against her.  

Salman Khan of the Free Aafia Movement said the organization had made vehement attempts to protest the racist judge’s inclusion in the appeals process, but they were unable to have him removed from proceedings due to lack of legal funds.

“Just to reopen the trial costs $150,000, and then to remove him it would have cost us a further $100,000,” he said.

Reuters reports that Aafia wrote a statement, “I refuse to participate in this system of total injustice that has punished and tortured me repeatedly, and continues to do so, without my having committed a crime.” She wrote that she wanted to be sent home to Pakistan through diplomacy, not through the legal system.

However, Aafia’s sister, Dr. Fowzia Siddique said mystery shrouds the circumstances. She is convinced that Aafia’s statement was coerced. In their last communication, Aafia said she was “determined to fight her case.”

“This is not Aafia’s decision. I know because my last conversation with her was that she was visited [in her dreams] by our prophet Muhammad, saw, and he was pleased with my efforts and the appeal. She said it is for this reason I consent, and if we don’t connect again DO NOT believe any statement to the contrary on my behalf.”

“Since then we have had absolutely no contact with her. I know she did not withdraw of her own free will. She has been coerced. God knows how much torture [she’s been forced to endure], complete solitary and manipulations…. It horrifies me to even think about what she has been forced to go through.”

Aafia, who is being held in solitary confinement, has not been allowed phone calls to her family in Pakistan since initiating her appeal.

“We have not been allowed [in-person contact] with her at any time. There is a prison rule that she gets to speak to family for 300 minutes per month – as long as the family pays for the call. We did get that order, and the only time that was implemented was when there were worldwide demonstrations – at those times there were calls. But since filing the appeal they have kept Aafia completely incommunicado,” stated her sister.

Mauri Saalakhan of the Peace and Justice Foundation comments, “While Malala Yousafzai is being celebrated for her accomplishments and yet unfulfilled future potential, Aafia Siddique is wasting away in a maximum security prison cell on a military base in the land of ‘liberty and justice for all!’”

Aafia received her university training in America, graduating with honors from MIT and the Jewish university Brandeis, where she was active in Muslim student groups. She was quoted in the Boston Globe as saying that if Americans would know more about the beauty of Islam, they would all want to become Muslims. This innocent statement of youthful idealism caught the attention of the local Zionist organizations.

Soon later, in 2003, Aafia was wanted by the FBI for questioning for possible ties to al Qaeda because she made a debit card purchase at a US army surplus store. She and her children were kidnapped by Pakistani authorities while awaiting a train.  Aafia was placed into one black car and the crying children into another. They were handed over to US agents and held incommunicado in Afghanistan for five years. Aafia’s baby was never seen again. The two older children were rescued from Bagram prison some years later as a result of intervention from the UK and are now living with relatives.
Instead of receiving an apology, this tiny woman, who never did anything more radical than collecting boots to donate to Bosnia, has been named as one of the FBI’s most wanted “terrorists.” Her isolation covers up some dark secrets, the government hopes.

Siddiqui was never even charged with links to terrorism. The FBI agents, US soldiers and interpreters said that as they were about to interrogate her at an Afghan police compound in Ghazni, Afghanistan, she supposedly grabbed a rifle and began shooting at them. None of them were wounded, but she was shot in the abdomen when they “returned fire.” At her trial, Aafia’s lawyer argued that there was no evidence the rifle had been fired.

Aafia approached the US soldiers because she thought they were there to save her from her Afghani captors! Aafia was being raped and tortured at the US military’s Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Instead of helping her, the US government committed her to life at Carswell, where she has reportedly been forced to walk on the Quran in addition to other humiliations.

What has been done to this innocent Pakistani woman and her children in the name of the US War on Terror is so sick and so awful that it would turn the stomaches of every citizen of the United States if they knew about it. Popular opinion would instantly turn dead against this criminal use of the American government.

“Had Aafia’s appeal reached its logical end, many hidden facts would have come to light, and many important people unmasked. This just proves Aafia is a victim of international power politics and her captives have a lot to hide and will revert to any length to keep her behind bars,” Fowzia told reporters.

Why Was Aafia Siddique's Appeal Withdrawn?

Scholar, teacher: Stripped Naked, Forced to Desecrate the Qur'an. Horrific Injustice. Why Was Aafia Siddique's Appeal Withdrawn? 


"With the attention and celebration that greeted the selection of Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai and India's Kailash Satyarthi for the world's most coveted peace prize, one would think that the American establishment has a special regard for young, accomplished (and committed) Muslim women. An honest review of the record would show that quite the opposite is true," writes Mauri Saalakhan of the Peace and Justice Foundation. "While Malala Yousafzai is being celebrated for her accomplishments and yet unfulfilled future potential, Aafia Siddique is wasting away in a maximum security prison cell on a military base in the land of 'liberty and justice for all!'"

On October 9, 2014, Dr. Aafia Siddique's family issued an announcement that US District Judge Richard Berman, without any warning, had ordered the case closed for the appeal of her conviction.

Aafia's sister, Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui told Al-Jazeera that she is convinced that "coercion tactics" were used to make her withdraw her appeal because according to their last communication, Aafia said she was "determined to fight her case."



Aafia, who is being held in solitary confinement, has not been allowedphone calls to her family in Pakistan since initiating her appeal.

"We have not been allowed [in-person contact] with her at any time. There is a prison rule that she gets to speak to family for 300 minutes per month - as long as the family pays for the call. We did get that order, and the only time that was implemented was when there were worldwide demonstrations - at those times there were calls. But since filing the appeal they have kept Aafia completely incommunicado," stated her sister.

"This is not Aafia's decision. I know because my last conversation with her was that she was visited [in her dreams] by our prophet Muhammad, saw, and he was pleased with my efforts and the appeal. She said it is for this reason I consent,and if we don't connect again DO NOT believe any statement to the contrary on my behalf."

"Since then we have had absolutely no contact with her. I know she did not withdraw of her own free will. She has been coerced. God knows how much torture [she's been forced to endure], complete solitary and manipulations.... It horrifies me to even think about what she has been forced to go through."

Previous reports about her treatment at Carswell included stripping her naked and forcing her to walk on the Quran in order to be allowed to attend hearings - one reason she has held back from the appeal until receiving spiritual permission. Therefore it makes no sense that Aafia would withdraw her appeal now. She has nothing to lose by appealing.

Reuters reports that Aafia wrote a statement, "I refuse to participate in this system of total injustice that has punished and tortured me repeatedly, and continues to do so, without my having committed a crime." She wrote that she wanted to be sent home to Pakistan through diplomacy, not through the legal system.

The openly hostile judge, the very same judge who sentenced her in early 2010, is reported to have ordered the case closed. Even if the appeal had continued, he likely would have ruled against her, he said. The Nation, Pakistan, reported that US District Judge Richard Berman stated he had "allowed" Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to withdraw what could be the last appeal of her conviction on charges of attempted murder. Berman claimed that Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence in a prison medical centre in Texas, had 'clearly and unequivocally' stated her intent to end the appeal.

According to Salman Khan of the Free Aafia Movement, the ruling came as a shock as they had hoped that the application for a retrial would receive a fair judgment. Despite vehement attempts to protest his inclusion, he said they were unable to have him removed from proceedings.

"Just to reopen the trial costs $150,000, and then to remove him it would have cost us a further $100,000," Khan said.

In 2003, Aafia was wanted by the FBI for questioning for possible ties to al Qaeda and was detained by Pakistani authorities. This tiny woman was named as one of the FBI's most wanted "terrorists." She was handed over to US agents and held incommunicado in Afghanistan for five years.

Siddiqui was never charged with links to terrorism. The FBI agents, US soldiers and interpreters said that as they were about to interrogate her at an Afghan police compound in Ghazni, Afghanistan, she supposedly grabbed a rifle and began shooting at them. None of them were wounded, but she was shot in the abdomen when they "returned fire." At her trial, Aafia's lawyer argued that there was no evidence the rifle had been fired. No bullets, shell casings or bullet debris were recovered.

Before the US brought her captive to the US, Siddiqui's family says Aafia was raped and tortured at the US military's Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Aafia has become a popular figure in her home country of Pakistan, which has influenced a wide variety of Islamic fighting groups to attempt to win her release. It is hard to think of any other woman in the world who is so deeply loved by millions of people around the world.

In 2011, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan took a Swiss couple hostage and said they could be freed if Siddiqui were released. In Afghanistan, the Taliban asked for her release as part of a deal to free US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. ISIS proposed swapping American journalist James Foley for her, but the US refused and allowed his execution.

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1572.htm

Attorney Lynne Stewart Released from Prison!

January 9, 2014 by TMO 

Lynne Stewart and husband Daniel Poynter stepping off plane.

Famous civil rights defense attorney Lynne Stewart was freed from Carswell medical prison in Texas and welcomed by a group of cheering supporters at Laguardia Airport in New York City on January 1, 2014. Stewart, 74, was granted “compassionate release” because she is suffering from Stage 4 breast cancer, after Stewart’s doctor said she had only 18 months to live.

Earlier petitions for her release had been denied. Stewart’s freedom is the result of organized public pressure, including over 40,000 signatures collected on a petition via change.org.

On December 31, 2013, Judge John Koeltl finally conceded that her “terminal medical condition and very limited life expectancy constitute extraordinary and compelling reasons that warrant the requested reduction [of her sentence].”

“We the people got her out!” cheered Lynne’s husband, Ralph Poynter to the crowd.

Stewart will seek treatment at Sloane-Kettering hospital in New York. She lives with her son under the standard rules of parole for an ex-convict. She is allowed to travel within the local area and there are no special restrictions on who she can talk to.

“She would have rather stayed in jail than agreed to be restricted in what she says to people,” Poynter told TMO.
The attorney, known for representing controversial, poor, and often unpopular defendants, is considered the arch-enemy of John Ashcroft. She dedicated her life to fighting his subversions of the US Constitution.

Stewart’s integrity even won the respect of her opponent, US Attorney Andrew McCarthy, who said he found Stewart to be “eminently reasonable and practical” and commented that “when she gave her word on something, she honored it.”

“Her smile is infectious and her manner disarmingly maternal, and she can home in like sonar on the weakness in a prosecution case,” wrote Michael Powell in the Washington Post.

Stewart was convicted on charges of providing material support to the Egyptian group, Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya in 2005 “for distributing press releases on behalf of her client, Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric known as the ‘blind Sheikh.’” reports Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!

Former US attorney general under Ronald Reagan, Ramsey Clark had originally persuaded Stewart to take Rahman’s case.

“We hit it off,” Stewart said about Rahman, “He’s really an incredible person.”

During Rahman’s trial, Stewart argued to the jury that Rahman had been framed for his political and religious teachings and not, as the prosecution alleged, for conspiring in any violent acts against the United States.

She infuriated the government by continuing to speak of the imam as innocent and visiting him in prison, even after he had been convicted. She also alienated fellow defense attorneys, who backed away from supporting her libertarian stance regarding the ongoing struggle for the establishment of an Islamic government in Egypt.

“I’m not going to say what’s healthy for someone who lives somewhere else in the world,” she said.

This was too much for some liberal progressive defense lawyers, many of whom harbor stereotypical Islamophobic sentiments very similar to those of government prosecutors, even while taking on Muslim clients.

Stewart’s outspoken support of her client was interpreted by the government as “a plot to obtain the release” of the imprisoned spiritual leader, who is serving a life sentence in solitary confinement for “inspiring” the first World Trade Center bombing with his politically-charged sermons at a mosque in New York.

The federal government’s indictment of Stewart in April 2002 marked the first time that it had brought charges of conspiring to provide material support for terrorist activity against a defense attorney in a terrorism case.

“It wasn’t just to punish her, but to send a message of intimidation to other committed lawyers who might follow her lead,” writes Mauri Saalakhan of the Peace and Justice Foundation.

“How could I be happier? I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for this fight!” Stewart told supporters in 2004, knowing she was facing the possibility of life in prison.

Chris Hedges describes her trial: “The state demanded an outrageous 30-year prison sentence. It showed the jurors lurid videos of Osama bin Laden and images of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center towers, and spun a fantastic web of Islamic, terrorist intrigue.”

Stewart was accused of speaking gibberish in order to distract the prison guards so that her Arabic translator could converse in Arabic with her client during a prison visit. She then passed along a written statement from the imam regarding Egyptian politics to Reuters. The government argued that Stewart was thus aiding terrorist violence.

“His word matters,” Stewart said regarding the Egyptian imam. “He wouldn’t be the first man accused of terrorism who is released from prison when times change.”

She added that her client’s statement was followed by a clarification: “I [Omar Abdel-Rahman] am not withdrawing my support of the cease-fire (in Egypt), I am merely questioning it and I am urging you, who are on the ground there to discuss it and to include everyone in your discussions as we always have done.”

Judge John Koeltl of Federal District Court in Manhattan originally sentenced Ms. Stewart to only 28 months in prison. Expressing relief to her supporters massed outside the courtroom after the sentencing she exclaimed exuberantly: “As my clients would say, I can do this standing on my head.”

But federal prosecutors goaded by John Ashcroft appealed the light sentence, claiming that Ms. Stewart’s public statement indicated a lack of remorse. Koeltl then resentenced her to 10 years in prison.

Scheduled for surgery the week she was sentenced, Stewart instead had to wait eighteen months for that surgery. Yet, even from prison, Stewart continued to make statements to the media.

“I believe that since 9/11 the government has pursued Muslims with an ever heavier hand. However, cases such as the Sheikh’s in 1995 amply demonstrate that Muslims had been targeted even earlier as the new ENEMY—always suspect, always guilty,” she wrote to Chris Hedges of Truthdig.

“I hope that my imprisonment sends the wake up call that the government is prepared to imprison lawyers who do not conduct legal representation in a manner the government has ordained.”

Lynne Irene Stewart, born October 8, 1939, attended a Calvinist college for her BA and went on to Rutgers for her law degree. She is Swedish/German and Irish/English by parentage.

Dr. Aafia Siddique and Green activist Marie Mason are incarcerated at the same prison federal prison hospital where Stewart was held, but in a separate area. There are about 2,500 women in there, Stewart told Democracy Now!