Pakistan has lodged a formal complaint with the authorities in the United States to probe assault on Dr Aafia Siddiqui in prison, the Foreign Office spokesperson said Saturday.
“We lodged a formal complaint with the relevant US authorities to thoroughly investigate the matter and ensure the safety and well-being of Dr Siddiqui,” Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri responded regarding the matter.
He further added, “We learnt of an assault on Dr Aafia Siddiqui by a fellow inmate at Federal Medical Center (FMC) Carswell on 30 July, 2021.”
“Our embassy in Washington DC as well as our Consulate General in Houston immediately took up the matter with the concerned US authorities,” he said.
He confirmed that Pakistan’s consul general in Houston visited Dr Siddiqui immediately to ascertain her well-being. She had received some minor injuries but was doing fine.
The FO spokesperson ensured that both the embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC and the Consulate General in Houston made every effort possible to make sure that Dr Siddiqui was properly looked after during her imprisonment at FMC Carswell.
Dr Aafia Siddiqui is currently serving an 86-year sentence at a US prison named Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.
In 2009, a jury had found her guilty of seven charges, including two counts of attempted murder. The jury had found there wasn’t premeditation in the attempted murder charges.
Prosecutors had alleged that Siddiqui, unbeknownst to some Americans who travelled to Ghazni, was behind a curtain in the second-floor room where they gathered.
She burst out from behind a curtain, grabbed an American soldier’s rifle and started firing. She was shot in the abdomen by a soldier who returned fire with his sidearm, the prosecutors had said.
During the trial, she had testified that she was simply trying to escape the room and was shot by someone who had seen her. She had said she was concerned at the time about being transferred to a “secret” prison.
Siddiqui’s family and supporters claim she was arrested in Pakistan and handed over to intelligence agencies, who then transferred her into US custody. Both US and Pakistani officials, however, claim that she was arrested in Afghanistan.
Siddiqui, who received her graduation degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University in biology and neuroscience while living in the US between 1991 and June 2002, had denied grabbing the weapon or having any familiarity with firearms.
She allegedly went missing for five years before she was discovered in Afghanistan.
Aafia Siddiqui !!! ….. Afghanistan Main Halkee See Barsaat Kya Hui, Pakistan Main High Head Kukkarmutte Nikalna Shuru Ho Gaye Hain. Bhai Logon … Thoda Sabr Karo …. Abhi Tau Party Shuroo Hui Hai. 😂😂😂
Aafia, the convicted, should not be reported in the papers. Hardly anyone has sympathies for this crazy chick.
Speak for yourself.