File photo of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani serving an 86-year prison sentence on charges of attempting to shoot U.S. military officers in Afghanistan, met her younger sister, Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui, at the Federal Medical Center in Texas after 20 years, with a Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) senator saying this has opened avenues for further discussions on securing her repatriation.
JI Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan is accompanying Fauzia, along with human rights lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, during her trip to the U.S. Detailing the meeting between the sisters on Twitter, he said he and Stafford-Smith would join Fauzia for her next meeting with Aafia on Thursday. “Tomorrow I will meet Dr. Aafia in prison along with Dr. Fauzia and Clive Stafford-Smith,” he said.
Narrating the “sad” story of the meeting between the sisters, he said the situation appeared “alarming” but the visit had opened avenues for further meetings and discussions that could eventually lead to Aafia’s repatriation to Pakistan. “Now, it is necessary for the people to raise their voice and pressure the government to take up with the American government the issue of Aafia’s release,” he wrote.
According to Khan, the meeting between the sisters lasted two-and-a-half hours. “Dr. Fauzia was not allowed to hug or shake hands with Aafia or even show her pictures of her children,” he said. “Aafia was in a white scarf and khaki jail dress,” he said, adding the meeting took place inside a jail room with a thick glass between them.
Khan wrote that Aafia has spent the first hour of the meeting detailing the torture she was subjected to daily, adding the details had been “difficult to hear.” He claimed that Aafia said she misses her mother and children, adding that her front teeth had been knocked out due to an attack in prison. “She also had difficulty hearing due to a head injury,” he added.
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was sentenced to jail for 86 years by a New York federal district court in 2010 on charges of attempted murder and assault against U.S. military officers while she was detained by U.S. authorities in Ghazni, Afghanistan two years earlier. She has repeatedly denied the charges. She was also suspected of being a member of Al Qaeda, but was never formally charged.