Release Aafia Siddiqui

San Francisco CA

Description

Quoting Wikipedia, that fountain of truth: Aafia Siddiqui (Urdu: عافیہ صدیقی‎; born 2 March 1972) is a Pakistani neuroscientist with degrees from MIT and Brandeis University who was convicted of multiple felonies. She is serving an 86-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.[9] Siddiqui was born in Pakistan to a Muslim family.[3] In 1990, she went to study in the United States and obtained a PhD in neuroscience from Brandeis University in 2001.[10] She returned to Pakistan for a time following the 9/11 attacks and again in 2003 during the war in Afghanistan. After his arrest and interrogation under torture, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad allegedly named her a courier and financier for Al-Qaeda, and she was placed on the FBI Seeking Information – Terrorism list; she remains the only woman to have been featured on the list.[11][12][13] Around this time she and her three children were kidnapped in Pakistan.[11] Five years later, she reappeared in Ghazni, Afghanistan, so was arrested by Afghan police and held for questioning by the FBI. While in custody, Siddiqui told the FBI she had gone into hiding but later disavowed her testimony and stated she had been abducted and imprisoned. Supporters believe she was held captive at Bagram Air Force Base as a ghost prisoner—charges the US government denies. During the second day in custody, she shot at visiting U.S. FBI and Army personnel with an M4 carbine one of the interrogators had placed on the floor by his feet. She was shot in the torso when the warrant officer returned fire with a 9-millimeter pistol. She was hospitalized, and treated; then extradited and flown to the US where in September 2008 she was indicted on charges of assault and attempted murder of a US soldier in the police station in Ghazni— charges she denied. She was convicted on 3 February 2010 and later sentenced to 86 years in prison. Her case has been called a "flashpoint of Pakistani-American tensions",[14] and "one of the most mysterious in a secret war dense with mysteries".[15] In Pakistan her arrest and conviction was seen by the public as an "attack on Islam and Muslims", and occasioned large protests throughout the country;[16] while in the US, she was considered by some to be especially dangerous as "one of the few alleged Al Qaeda associates with the ability to move about the United States undetected, and the scientific expertise to carry out a sophisticated attack".[11] She has been termed "Lady al-Qaeda" by a number of media organizations due to her alleged affiliation with Islamists.[17][18][19] Pakistani news media called the trial a "farce",[16] while other Pakistanis labeled this reaction "knee-jerk Pakistani nationalism". The Pakistani Prime Minister at that time, Yousaf Raza Gillani, and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, promised to push for her release.[16] ISIS have offered to trade her for prisoners on two occasions: once for James Foley and once for Kayla Mueller.[20] That's a lot of footnotes for one freakin' paragraph! [1]"Pakistani Diplomats Visit Woman Detained in New York". WNYC. 10 August 2008. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2011. [2]Emerson, Steven (2006). Jihad incorporated: a guide to militant Islam in the US. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1591024536. [3]"America's Most Wanted: 'The Most Dangerous Woman in the World'". Der Spiegel. 27 November 2008. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2010. [4]Hasan, Hasan (27 March 2003). "Pakistani couple sought in Qaeda hunt". Daily Times. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2010. [5]Stockman, Farah (10 April 2004). "Roxbury address eyed in FBI probe". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 26 September 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2010. [6]Tom Hays (23 September 2010). "Pakistani given 86 years for firing at US troops". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. [7]"Hearing deferred to Aug 16". Pakistan: The Nation. 6 May 2010. Archived from the original on 11 May 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010. [8]"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018. [9]"Dr Aafia Siddiqui doesn't want to return: FO spokesperson". Dunya News. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019. [10]Peter Bergen (2011). The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda. Simon & Schuster. p. 223. ISBN 9780743278942. Retrieved 20 December 2013. Disturbingly, al-Qaeda has been able to recruit American-educated scientists such as Aafia Siddiqui, who has a degree in biology from MIT and a PhD in neuroscience from Brandeis. [11]Scroggins, Deborah (1 March 2005). "Wanted Women—Faith, Lies and The War on Terror: The Lives of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Aafia Siddiqui". Vogue. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018. [12]Scroggins, Wanted Women, 2012: p. 245 [13]Scroggins, Wanted Women, 2012: p. 298 [14]Walsh, Declan (26 April 2011). "Guantánamo files paint Aafia Siddiqui as top al-Qaida operative". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017. [15]Scroggins, Wanted Women, 2012: p. 416 [16]Mashood, Salman; Gall, Carlotta (5 March 2010). "U.S. Sees a Terror Threat; Pakistanis See a Heroine". The [17]Shah, Benazir. "The silence of Aafia Siddiqui". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 21 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018. [18]AFP (26 December 2014). "Aafia Siddiqui: 'Lady Al Qaeda to Lady Islamic State'". DAWN.COM. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018. [19]"Lady al Qaeda: The World's Most Wanted Woman". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 20 May [20]"'Lady al-Qaeda': The American-educated PhD the Islamic State desperately wants freed". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017. More info: • https://www.thepetitionsite.com/6/Petition/ • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aafia_Siddiqui • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagram_torture_and_prisoner_abuse • http://deconstructedglobe.com/wordpress/what-happened-to-aafia-siddiqui-and-where-is-she-now/ • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/24/aafia-siddiqui-al-qaida • https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/09/lady_al_qaeda_senten.php • https://sparrowmedia.net/2013/09/aafia-siddiqui-prisoner-650-screening-press-conference/ • 'Aafia Siddiqui - Prisoner 650 (THE REAL STORY)', https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElPu8NbFp3I