Mother's Day Follow

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui 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?