Dr Aafia’s sister: “The American Ambassador is lying”

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Dr Aafia’s sister: “The American Ambassador is lying”
Daily Ummat Publication recently published an interview with Fauzia Siddiqui (Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s sister) and human rights activist Khalid Khawaja. Al-istiqamah. com has translated the interview from the original Urdu:


The American ambassador N.W. Peterson yesterday wrote a letter to the editors of the Pakistani newspapers regarding the Dr Aafia case, which begins by addressing the Pakistani media in an indecent manner. In her letter she has commented on 7 points about the Dr Aafia case and she has also severely criticised the Pakistani media. She says that the Pakistani media is spreading rumours and making unproven accusations. She has also said that unfortunately there are some people who like to twist the truth so that they manipulate the public’s opinion into believing what they want them to believe. After criticising the Pakistani media she went on to state the 7 points that the Americans are claiming in the Dr Aafia case.

The American Ambassador is lying

The question is, how close to the truth are the Americans….

To find this out we spoke to Dr Fauzia Siddiqui who is Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s sister and Khalid Khawaja, a human rights activist. They have been involved in this case since day one and are aware of all the truths about this case.


Fauzia Siddiqui


Q: Dr Fauzia Siddiqui, the American ambassador has written a letter to the Pakistani media saying that they are twisting the truth. To set the record straight, they have explained 7 points. We would like you to hear your opinion.


FS: I congratulate the Pakistani media for covering the case splendidly and uncovering the truth behind this story. It is for this reason that the American ambassador found it necessary to provide justifications. Instead of accusing the Pakistani media, the American ambassador should look at what the American media is doing. Where are their etiquettes and manners? Look at the filth that their media is writing with regards to this case. Look at the New York media and the false accusations they are putting on Aafia. There is not a crime in the world that they are not accusing her of! I ask her (the ambassador), where is the evidence for these allegations? Why doesn’t she stop these false accusations? The fact that the ambassador is having to provide justifications and is angrily criticising the Pakistani media is proof that the Pakistani media is uncovering the truth, and this is worrying for the Americans.


Q: Madam, I want us to talk frankly and to the point. The American ambassador has said that the media’s claim is false and that before the 17th of July 2008, Aafia was not in the custody of the Americans, in Bagram or anywhere else and that they had no knowledge of her whereabouts. What is your take on this?


FS: My innocent sister Aafia was kidnapped on the 30th of March 2003 in Karachi, when she was with her three children, on the way to the railway station. The American ambassador says that they had no knowledge of this but this is a lie. The American television channel NBS news had a report about Aafia’s disappearance on the 22nd of April 2003, exactly 23 days after she went missing. The report read ‘The FBI is interrogating the recently arrested Dr Aafia Siddiqui. Where this interrogation is taking place and where Dr Aafia is being held are unknown.’ This was their breaking news which stayed on their website for a long time. Maybe it is still there. If Aafia’s whereabouts were unknown to them then why didn’t they refute this story?



Q: It is said that Aafia has been injured due to a gunshot, but the injury is not life-threatening and she has not been mistreated. What do you think?


FS: I wasn’t there and none of us have been able to meet with her. All the allegations of mistreatment which have been brought forward so far have been through the lawyer Elizabeth Fink. Elizabeth doesn’t know us or Aafia. She has been appointed through the American judicial system. She certifies that Aafia is suffering and that she has been tortured. In addition to this, an American woman, who was allowed to watch the court case, wrote a letter to me in which she described Aafia’s condition. I can’t begin to describe to you what is written in that letter. She said that Aafia cannot even sit in the wheelchair properly. You can’t hear her speak. Even from the photograph that the Americans themselves have made public, it is quite clear what ordeal the Americans have put my innocent sister through. The American ambassador’s letter is a pack of lies and it states that no injustice has been done to Aafia. What more injustice can there be than the fact that they have said that if anyone comes to meet Aafia then the security guards will strip search her? Isn’t this injustice and mistreatment? The American ambassador is herself a woman. Is it not injustice that a woman be strip-searched by male security guards?


Q: They say that nobody was paid or rewarded for Dr Aafia’s arrest.


FS: I don’t know what the truth is about this. A lawyer in Islamabad has filed a case with regards to this but I am not aware of the evidence that they have.


Q: Was she arrested in Afghanistan by the Afghan police and handed over by them to the Americans?


FS: These are absurd stories. First NBS reported in 2003 that Aafia was being interrogated by the FBI. Now they say that she was captured on the 17th of July 2008, that too by the Afghan police! How absurd! They say she was captured in Ghazni and they found in her possession, a map of New York! The question is, was she searching for New York in Ghazni and that was the reason she ended up in Ghazni with a map of New York? The governor of Ghazni has denied that they captured Aafia!


Their claims are easily proved false with a little thought. I think that they kept a lone woman locked up in a dark cell. 5 years later when people started demanding answers they released her in Ghazni themselves and told the Afghan police to [fatally] shoot her. The Afghans didn’t understand and they shot and injured her, then handed her over to the Americans. Their plot failed; they had wanted them to kill her.


Q: It is said that the Americans definitely have no knowledge of the whereabouts of her children.


FS: What does this ‘definitely having no knowledge’ mean? The American ambassador should explain this further. Furthermore, the order which came from the American courts, which the American government told the court to announce on oath, in it was stated that Aafia and her son had been captured. Now where has that son gone? Secondly, in America some people from the FBI came to my resident brother and said, ‘Look we have always been bringing you bad news with regards to your sister Aafia, but today we have brought you good news that next week, when you come to court, we will let you meet with Aafia’s son. They said, ‘If we show you a picture of the boy will you recognise him?’ He said, ‘I can’t say anything about a picture, but if you let me meet him then I will definitely recognise him.’ They had promised to arrange a meeting at the hearing, but then they didn’t let my brother meet him and he has disappeared. Tell us, where has her son gone and why weren’t we allowed to meet him? Why has he been made to disappear?


Q: The picture that America publicised of Aafia’s arrest in Ghazni, in which she was covering her face, was Aafia’s son in that picture as well?


FS: Definitely! Now let the American ambassador tell me what she hopes to achieve by lying.


Q: Aafia is accused of attempting to assault and murder American officers and employees.


FS: An accusation is an accusation! Anyone can accuse anybody of anything! If they are truthful then they should let us meet Aafia. They should allow her mother to meet her. Let her have access to the media and the truth will come out.


Q: They say that they will give her full justice and even let her defend herself.


FS: We don’t believe this one percent. Why? I will explain this to you. The government isn’t even giving her the rights of an American citizen which the law states she should have, so what justice will they give her? According to American law, it is her right that she should be able to make phone calls. It was said that she would be allowed to speak to her mother by phone, but they didn’t allow it. This itself is an injustice. Secondly, because they wanted the court case to take place in New York, they made up the story about the map of New York, which they claim was found in her possession. There is now a trial by media taking place and many disgusting, false allegations are being levelled against Aafia. All this is being done so that the people of New York feel hatred for Aafia, and the court will already be prejudiced against Aafia so the outcome of the case will therefore be decided even before the court case begins. If our ambassador is so concerned then she should oppose the American media and tell them to put a stop to this behaviour. My appeal to the people of Pakistan is that they should make du’a to Allah that He eases the situation of this innocent woman. Ameen.


Khalid Khawaja – Chief Defender of Human rights


Q: Mr Khawaja. The American ambassador has stated that the Pakistani media is twisting the truth regarding Aafia. Is this true?


KK: I challenge the American ambassador to join me in a live broadcast on any television channel in the world. I will prove that she is lying. Dr Aafia was in the custody of the Americans for 5 years. They have oppressed her and I have proof of this. If the American ambassador is truthful then let her come forward and prove that I am lying.


Q: She has said that prior to the 17th of July they did not know of the whereabouts of Dr Aafia.


KK: Aafia was not an illiterate. She obtained a doctorate from America’s top university and according to her she was also a terrorist! On the other hand they say that she was so mad and the world’s media says that she was prisoner number 650. So in these conditions she arrived in Ghazni, with a map of New York. She also had thousands of e-mails about terrorist activities in her bag. Along with this she also had literature about bomb-making in her bag and was also walking about with bomb making equipment! How stupid do they think people are?! And is the American officer stupid that he will capture the woman who was wanted by the FBI and let her go so that she can go behind the curtain, pick up a gun and start firing?! What do they take us for that they think we will accept this nonsensical story?


Let us say we accept that she was actually captured on the 17th of July 2008. American law says that when a foreign national comes into their custody then they have to inform their embassy within 24 hours. Why didn’t they do this? They had the opportunity to bring her in front of the media at once and say ‘Look, the woman because of whom we are being accused, we have just captured her in Ghazni.’ Why are they silent?


Q: What will you say regarding their statement that they are definitely unaware of the whereabouts of her children?


KK: They had said that they captured one child with the mother. Now we don’t even know where he is. Secondly, since 2003, up to the present day, the American and Pakistani agencies have been threatening her family and brother not to ‘make any noise’ and that the children will be found and so will Aafia. Now, how can they say that they don’t know where the children are? May Allah protect them; we have heard that they may even have killed one child. The American ambassador should be ashamed of herself for lying and she should tell us about that child, whose capture was announced by the government, where is he now? I spoke to Hussain Haqaani myself and he says that the Americans are even claiming to be unaware about the whereabouts of this child. If this is not blatant transgression…..then what is it?


Q: They say that no maltreatment occurred.


KK: What do they call maltreatment? How did she get in the state that she is in today? And strip-searching a woman in front of men, is that not maltreatment? The American ambassador is herself a woman. She isn’t a Muslim, and she doesn’t observe Hijaab. She should tell me isn’t this maltreatment (that a Muslim woman who observes Hijaab is strip-searched in front of men)? They say that she was shot on the 18th of July and after transferring her to America they didn’t give her medical treatment. What else is maltreatment? Isn’t what the American media is doing classified as oppression and maltreatment?


Q: It has been promised that justice will be served and she will also be given the right to defend herself.


KK: What justice will those people serve who aren’t even giving her basic human rights? Visitation rights are given throughout the world. In this case, either she is not allowed to meet with her lawyer at all, and when a visit did take place then there were cameras in all directions as well as six other people present. They couldn’t talk. When there was a meeting between Aafia and her brother they were not able to talk. They just looked at each other and cried. Leave aside everything else. After the 30th of March 2003 when she went missing, Moin Haider, Muhammad Mian Sumro and Faisal Salih Hayat promised her family that she was safe and sound and would be released soon. They should be asked where she was until now.


Q: What is your opinion about the torture?


KK: Look, they made the poor woman a victim of torture for 5 years, up to the point that she is no longer normal. Her lawyer says that all she remembers is that she was kept in a cave. She has no idea how much time she has spent in captivity and is unaware of her children’s whereabouts. The question arises that when she was kidnapped on the 30th of March, her 3 children were with her. There are eyewitnesses who can vouch for this. Now the Americans say they don’t know where her children are. If they are so unaware then they should ask her whether her children were with her. Two of her children are American citizens, at least find out about them. They are just conjuring up tales.


Q: Why are these lies being told?


KK: For 5 years America has been accused of the abduction and torture of Aafia. Now they want to reassure the American public that the accusations are false and so they are making scapegoats of others and concocting false stories which they are propagating through their media. Only the Pakistani media is spreading the truth and the Americans are worried by this.

Was neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui raped and tortured at US Bagram prison?
by Ernesto Cienfuegos
http://www.aztlan. net/strange_ case_of_dr_ siddiqui. htm

Letter from Dr Afia a sister of a dead nation
http://www.facebook .com/topic. php?uid=28530506 102&topic=4717


PAKISTAN: Children of Dr. Afia Siddiqui are removed from Bagram and their whereabouts are unknown and Dr. Afia is denied permission to attend court proceedings

http://www.ahrchk. net/statements/ mainfile. php/2008statemen ts/1681/

Lawyer demands Dr Aafia’s shifting to hospital for urgent treatment
http://freedetainee s.org/1947# more-1947



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