9th Anniversary Of Aafia Siddiqui's Disappearance.

[ghulam muhammed]

9th Anniversary of Aafia Siddiqui’s Disappearance

Nine years ago, Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, along with her three children, disappeared in Karachi in March 30th 2003. Their whereabouts were unknown for the next five years. Throughout this time, Aafia was held without charge and abused whilst in secret detention. Former Bagram prisoners testified to the presence of a female prisoner with the number ‘650’, whose horrific screams they would hear.

Following demands for her recovery by human rights organisations and the Pakistani public, Aafia resurfaced in Afghanistan in August 2008, framed with the attempted murder of US personnel. Transferred to the US, Aafia was convicted in a shocking miscarriage of justice and was sentenced in September 2010 to 86 years in prison. She is currently held in isolation at the FMC Carswell, Texas, a facility notoriously referred to as the “hospital of horrors.” She is denied any meaningful contact with her family and is unlikely to see her children again until she is eligible for release in 2094 at age 122, if indeed she is alive.

Whilst the two elder children were released in 2008 and 2010 respectively, the whereabouts of her youngest child, Suleman - only six months old at the time of the abduction - remain unknown, although it is believed that he may have been killed in US custody. Most recently, disturbing reports have emerged that her health is deteriorating and there are serious concerns that she may have cancer.

http://justiceforaafia.org/articles/pre ... ber-033003