Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist and mother of three is to stand trial in New York for attempted murder. But shadowy questions about her life remain, including her links to al-Qaida and her five ‘lost’ years.
As reported on National Terror Alert last year, The capture of Aafia Siddiqui, most likely saved many innocent lives however; the information she may be able to provide authorities may prove even more valuable in the long run.
Earlier reports stated that handwritten notes about a “mass casualty attack” that listed New York City landmarks like the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty were found on Siddiqui. It has also been reported that Siddiqui carried lists of other locations like Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge and Plum Island and notes about “dirty bombs,” chemical and biological weapons and other explosives.
Related Articles
- Pakistani scientist lawyers seek 12-year sentence (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- UPDATE 1-US unseals new charges against 5 in New York plot (reuters.com)
- Pakistani Taliban claims NYC car bomb (washingtontimes.com)
While the statement that Dr. Aafia’s arrest “most likely saved many innocent lives” is entirely unsubstantiated, I do applaud your intent to introduce some objectivity in this very disturbing case by publishing the attached Guardian article.
The facts around this case are very hazy indeed. However, what we do know paints a very disturbing picture of abduction and torture, and any trial which does not address the full picture around what happened to Aafia and how this led to her being in American custody will fall very short indeed of constituting any form of justice. If there is to be a trial, it cannot be a show-trial based on the rather extravagant (to say the least) version of events offered by the prosecution. This will not suit the interests of justice, of the USA or of the American people any more than it will suit Dr. Aafia and her family.
What does seem to be beyond doubt is that Aafia was held and tortured over many years without any legal recourse, that she was arrested with her three small children – one of them merely 6 months old! – and that two of them are still missing, the oldest (at 11) being severely traumatised. One can only try to imagine the permanenet damage that this will have caused to these little children, beyond that suffered by Aafia herself – and why does no-one seem interested in knowing what happened to them? How this treatment can be justified under any circumstances is beyond me, and it should be unthinkable for a country which holds dear the values of justice and civil rights to utterly destroy any person’s life like this – but as we know, the “war on terror” has shown us a lot of unpleasant truths in this respect.
However, there is now yet another chance for the truth to come out and for justice to genuinely be done – but is there the political will to do this?
There may well be many questions around Aafia, but what is true is that she has been the victim of some horrific treatment over a very long time which has left her a broken woman, and not only do these abuses have a massive bearing on the trial, but they must not go unaddressed.