Open Letter: Ten Years of Aafia Siddiqui's Imprisonment

“In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful”

Open Letter
To, CJ Iftikhar M. Chaudhry
Supreme Court, Constitution Avenue, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan

March 30, 2013

Subject: Ten Years of Aafia Siddiqui’s Imprisonment

Respected Sir,

Asalamo Alykum, Today, it is full ten years since Aafia Siddiqui was abducted. She, along with her children, was abducted from Pakistan. She surfaced in Afghanistan. And she is being tried in USA?

She is portrayed to have had links with ‘terrorists’, but she has not been prosecuted for any kind of terrorist activity or aid, rather she has been prosecuted on the grounds of shooting an American soldier. This is ridiculous. Sir, during abduction and captivity, what is a person supposed to do? Sit around amiably and wait to be further abused?

2008: Escaped detainees of Bagram jail have reported that they used to hear lamenting screams of a woman during their captivity and one of them identified the picture of Aafia Siddiqui as ‘that woman’. The horror emanating from her imprisonment conditions gave her the name the ghost of Bagram jail.

An added horror of the Aafia Siddiqui case is that all basic human rights and Geneva Convention’s legislation is being severely violated in her treatment as a prisoner. She was detained without a charge, her children suffered for no crime at all, her family was kept uninformed, her interrogators were not honest with her, she does not have legal defence of her choice and she was and still is being physically, mentally and sexually tortured. Her five years in Bagram jail, she was kept in a men’s facility with no privacy or dignity.

Sir, you are in a position to understand the intricacies of law better than ordinary people. As common people, we understand that Aafia Siddiqui, being a Pakistani national, being picked up from the Pakistani soil and committing a shooting (if any) during captivity has a full right to be tried here in Pakistan, not anywhere else. This is also endorsed by the international Geneva Convention.

Sir, please collaborate with all those national and international people sincerely interested in the freedom of Aafia Siddiqui and find a legal and unchallengeable way out, be it a Prison Exchange Program or an unconditional release.

The request is also for all other illegally detained prisoners abroad whose details can be found with Ms. Amina Masood, Defence of Human Rights (www.dhrpk.org).

Sir, we have full faith in your sincerity, commitment and sense of responsibility towards your position and the Grace of Allah Almighty upon you. Wsalam.

From,
[Name/Initials], [Location],
[Date].


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CJ Iftikhar M. Chaudhry
Supreme Court, Constitution Avenue,
Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.

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