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Aafia Siddiqui (Urdu: عافیہ صدیقی; born March 2, 1972) is an American-educated Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist[2][3][4] who was convicted after a jury trial in a U.S. federal court of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. The charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison.[5][6][7] In September 2010, she was sentenced by the U.S. judge to 86 years in prison.[8][9]

A devout Muslim who had engaged in Islamic charity work and proselytizing,[10] Siddiqui moved back to Pakistan in 2002. She disappeared with her three young children in March 2003, shortly after the arrest of her second husband's uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged chief planner of the September 11 attacks.[1][11][12] It was reported that Khalid Mohammed mentioned Siddiqui's name while he was being interrogated.[3] Siddiqui was added to the FBI Seeking Information – War on Terrorism list in 2003.[1][13] In May 2004, the FBI named Siddiqui as one of its seven Most Wanted Terrorists.[1] Her whereabouts remained unknown for more than five years, until she was arrested in July 2008 in Afghanistan.[11] The Afghan police said she was carrying in her purse handwritten notes and a computer thumb drive containing recipes for conventional bombs and weapons of mass destruction, instructions on how to make machines to shoot down U.S. drones, descriptions of New York City landmarks with references to a mass casualty attack, and two pounds of sodium cyanide in a glass jar.[9][14][15]

Siddiqui was shot and severely wounded at the police compound the following day when she grabbed the unattended rifle of one of her American interrogators and began shooting at them.[16] She got medical attention for her wounds at Bagram Air Base and was flown to the U.S.[17] to be charged in a New York City federal court with attempted murder, and armed assault on U.S. officers and employees.[12][18] She denied the charges and said the interrogators had fired on her when she had attempted to flee.[19] After receiving psychological evaluations and therapy, the judge declared her mentally fit to stand trial.[20][21] Amnesty International monitored the trial for fairness.[22] Siddiqui interrupted the trial proceedings with vocal outbursts and was ejected from the courtroom several times.[9] The jury convicted her of all the charges in February 2010.[12][5][6][16] The prosecution argued for "terrorism enhancement" of the charges that would require a life term;[8] Siddiqui's lawyers requested a 12-year sentence, arguing that she was mentally ill. [7][23] The charges against her stemmed solely from the shooting, and Siddiqui was not charged with, or prosecuted for, any terrorism-related offenses.[24][25]

Many of Siddiqui's supporters, including international human rights organizations, have claimed that Siddiqui was not an extremist and that she and her young children were illegally detained, interrogated and tortured by Pakistani intelligence or U.S. authorities or both during her five-year disappearance.[11] The U.S. and Pakistan governments have denied all such claims.[14][26]

Biography[]

Family and early life[]

Siddiqui was born in Karachi, Pakistan to Muhammad Salay Siddiqui, a British-trained neurosurgeon, who is now deceased, and Ismet (née Faroochi), an Islamic teacher, social worker, and charity volunteer, who is now retired.[1][27] Her mother was prominent in political and religious circles and at one time a member of Pakistan's parliament.[28] Siddiqui is the youngest of three siblings.[1] Her brother is an architect who lives in Sugar Land, Texas. Her sister, Fowzia, is a Harvard-trained neurologist, who worked at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore[29] and taught at Johns Hopkins University before she returned to Pakistan.[30]

Siddiqui attended school in Zambia until the age of eight, and finished her primary and secondary schooling in Karachi.[27]

Undergraduate education[]

Siddiqui moved to Houston, Texas, on a student visa in 1990 joining her brother.[14][27][31] She attended the University of Houston for three semesters, then transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after being awarded a full scholarship.[1][29] In 1992, as a sophomore, Siddiqui received a Carroll L. Wilson Award for her research proposal "Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women".[1][27][32] As a junior, she received a $1,200 City Days fellowship through MIT's program to help clean up Cambridge elementary school playgrounds.[1] While she initially had a triple major in biology, anthropology, and archeology at MIT, she graduated in 1995 with a B.S. in biology.[33][34]

She was regarded as religious by her fellow MIT students, but not unusually so: a student who lived in the dorm at the time said, "She was just nice and soft-spoken, [and not] terribly assertive."[29]

She joined the Muslim Students' Association (MSA),[1][35] and a fellow Pakistani recalls her recruiting for association meetings and distributing pamphlets.[24] Journalist Deborah Scroggins suggested that through the MSA's contacts Siddiqui may have been drawn into the world of terrorism:

At MIT, several of the MSA's most active members had fallen under the spell of Abdullah Azzam, a Muslim Brother who was Osama bin Laden's mentor.... [Azzam] had established the Al Kifah Refugee Center [Brooklyn, New York] to function as its worldwide recruiting post, propaganda office, and fund-raising center for the mujahideen fighting in Afghanistan... It would become the nucleus of the al-Qaeda organization.[1]

Siddiqui solicited money for the Al Kifah Refugee Center. In addition to being an al-Qaeda charitable front and al-Qaeda’s U.S operational headquarters, tied to bin Laden, it advocated armed violence, one of its members had just killed Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1990, and it was tied to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[1][14][33] Through the MSA she met several committed Islamists, including Suheil Laher, its imam, who publicly advocated Islamization and jihad before 9/11. For a short time, Laher was also the head of the Islamic charity Care International, which reportedly collected funds for jihadist fighters.[2]

When Pakistan asked the U.S. for help in 1995 in combating religious extremism, Siddiqui circulated the announcement with a scornful note deriding Pakistan for "officially" joining "the typical gang of our contemporary Muslim governments", closing her email with a quote from the Quran warning Muslims not to take Jews and Christians as friends.[1] She wrote three guides for teaching Islam, expressing the hope in one: "that our humble effort continues ... and more and more people come to the [religion] of Allah until America becomes a Muslim land."[1] She also took a 12-hour pistol training course at the Braintree Rifle and Pistol Club in Braintree, Massachusetts.[36]

Marriage, graduate school, and work[]

File:MohammedKhan1.jpg

Amjad Mohammed Khan, Siddiqui's first husband

In 1995 she had an arranged marriage to anesthesiologist Amjad Mohammed Khan from Karachi, just out of medical school, whom she had never seen.[2][14] The marriage ceremony was conducted over the telephone.[17] Khan then came to the U.S., and the couple lived first in Lexington, Massachusetts, and then in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Roxbury (in Boston), where he worked as an anesthesiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital.[1][14] She gave birth to a son, Mohammad Ahmed/Ali Hassan in 1996, and to a daughter, Mariam Bint e Muhammad, in 1998; both are American citizens.[2][37]

Siddiqui studied cognitive neuroscience at Brandeis University.[3] In early 1999 while she was a graduate student, she taught General Biology Lab, a course required for undergraduate biology majors, pre-med, and pre-dental students.[14][38] She received her Ph.D. in 2001 after completing her dissertation on learning through imitation;[2] "Separating the Components of Imitation".[27][39] Siddiqui's dissertation adviser was a Brandeis psychology professor who recalled that she wore a head scarf and thanked Allah when an experiment was successful.[3] He said her research concerned how people learn, and did not believe it could be connected to anything that would be useful to Al-Qaeda.[3] Siddiqui also co-authored a journal article on selective learning that was published in 2003.[40]

In 1999, while living in Boston, Siddiqui founded the Institute of Islamic Research and Teaching as a nonprofit organization. She served as the organization's president, her husband was the treasurer, and her sister was the resident agent.[41][42][27][nb 1] She attended a mosque outside the city where she stored copies of the Quran and other Islamic literature for distribution.[43] She also helped establish the Dawa Resource Center, a program that distributed Qurans and offered Islam-based advice to prison inmates.[37]

Divorce, al-Qaeda allegations, and re-marriage[]

According to a dossier prepared by UN investigators for the 9/11 Commission in 2004, Siddiqui, using the alias Fahrem or Feriel Shahin, was one of six alleged al-Qaeda members who bought $19 million worth of blood diamonds in Monrovia, Liberia, immediately prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks.[44] The diamonds were purchased because they were untraceable assets to be used for funding al-Qaeda operations.[1][2][29][45] The identification of Siddiqui was made three years after the incident by one of the go-betweens in the Liberian deal. Alan White, former chief investigator of the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Liberia, said she was the woman.[1][2][29][46] Siddiqui's lawyer maintained credit card receipts and other records showed that she was in Boston at the time.[1] FBI agent Dennis Lormel, who investigated terrorism financing, said the agency ruled out a specific claim that she had evaluated diamond operations in Liberia, though she remained suspected of money laundering.[21]

In the summer of 2001, the couple moved to Malden, Massachusetts.[1] According to Khan, after the September 11 attacks, Siddiqui insisted on leaving the U.S., saying that it was unsafe for them and their children to remain.[47] He also said that she wanted him to move to Afghanistan, and work as a medic for the mujahideen.[14][21]

In May 2002, the FBI questioned Siddiqui and her husband regarding their purchase over the internet of $10,000 worth of night vision equipment, body armor, and military manuals including The Anarchist's Arsenal, Fugitive, Advanced Fugitive, and How to Make C-4.[17][21][29] Khan claimed that these were for hunting and camping expeditions. On June 26, 2002, the couple and their children returned to Pakistan.[1][2][12][17]

In August 2002, Khan said Siddiqui was abusive and manipulative throughout their seven years of marriage; her violent personality and extremist views led him to suspect her of involvement in jihadi activities.[47] Khan went to Siddiqui's parents' home, and announced his intention to divorce her and argued with her father. The latter died of a heart attack on August 15, 2002.[1][29] In September 2002, Siddiqui gave birth to the last of their three children, Suleman.[1] The couple's divorce was finalized on October 21, 2002.[1][21]

Siddiqui left for the U.S. on December 25, 2002, informing her ex-husband that she was looking for a job;[1] she returned on January 2, 2003.[1][12] Amjad later said he was suspicious of her explanation, as universities were on winter break.[47] The FBI linked her to an alleged al-Qaeda operative, Majid Khan, who they suspected of having planned attacks on gas stations and underground fuel-storage tanks in the Baltimore/Washington area. They said that the real purpose of her trip was to open a post office box, to make it appear that Majid was still in the U.S.[2][28][29][48][49] Siddiqui listed Majid Khan as a co-owner of the P.O. box.[11][21] The P.O. box key was later found in the possession of Uzair Paracha, who was convicted of providing material support to al-Qaeda, and sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in 2006.[1][50]

In February 2003, she married accused al-Qaeda member Ammar al-Baluchi, also known as Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, in Karachi.[14][17][27][48] Al Baluchi is a nephew of al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,[11][14][48] and a cousin of Ramzi Yousef, convicted of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.[11][48][51] Siddiqui's marriage to al-Baluchi was denied by her family, but confirmed by Pakistani and U.S. intelligence,[52] a defense psychologist,[53] and by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's family.[24] She had worked with al-Baluchi in opening a P.O. box for Majid Khan, and says she married him in March or April 2003.[28][54][55] Al-Baluchi was arrested on April 29, 2003, and taken to the Guantanamo Bay military prison;[48] he faces the death penalty in his upcoming trial in the U.S., for aiding the 9/11 hijackers.[14]

Disappearance[]

In early 2003, while Siddiqui was working at Aga Khan University in Karachi, she emailed a former professor at Brandeis and expressed interest in working in the U.S., citing lack of options in Karachi for women of her academic background.[2][17]

File:Khalid Shaikh Mohammed after capture.jpg

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Siddiqui's second husband's uncle, who reportedly revealed her name during his interrogation.

According to the media, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, alleged al-Qaeda chief planner of the September 11 attacks, was interrogated by the CIA after his arrest on March 1, 2003.[56] Mohammed was allegedly tortured by waterboarding 183 times,[21][57] and his confessions triggered a series of related arrests shortly thereafter.[1] The press reported Mohammed naming Siddiqui as an al-Qaeda operative;[56] On March 25, 2003, the FBI issued a global "wanted for questioning" alert for Siddiqui and her ex-husband, Amjad Khan.[1] Siddiqui was accused of being a "courier of blood diamonds and a financial fixer for al-Qaida".[58] Khan was questioned by the FBI, and released.[17]

Afraid the FBI would find her in Karachi, a few days later she left her parents' house along with her three children[59] on March 30.[24] She took a taxi to the airport, ostensibly to catch a morning flight to Islamabad to visit her uncle, but disappeared.[2][17]

Siddiqui's and her children's whereabouts and activities from March 2003 to July 2008 are a matter of dispute.

On April 1, 2003, local newspapers reported, and Pakistan interior ministry confirmed, that a woman had been taken into custody on terrorism charges.[24] The Boston Globe described "sketchy" Pakistani news reports saying Pakistani authorities had detained Siddiqui, and had questioned her with FBI agents.[37][56] However, a couple of days later, both the Pakistan government and the FBI publicly denied having anything to do with her disappearance.[24] On April 22, 2003, two U.S. federal law enforcement officials anonymously said Siddiqui had been taken into custody by Pakistani authorities. Pakistani officials never confirmed the arrest, however, and later that day the U.S. officials amended their earlier statements, saying new information made it "doubtful" she was in custody.[60] Her sister Fauzia claimed Interior Minister Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat said that her sister had been released and would be returning home "shortly".[24]

In 2003–04, the FBI and the Pakistani government said they did not know where Siddiqui was.[17][61][62] U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft called her the most wanted woman in the world, an al-Qaeda "facilitator" who posed a "clear and present danger to the U.S." On May 26, 2004, the U.S. listed her among the seven "most wanted" al-Qaeda fugitives.[56][63] One day before the announcement, The New York Times cited the Department of Homeland Security saying there were no current risks; American Democrats accused the Bush administration of attempting to divert attention from plummeting poll numbers and to push the failings of the Invasion of Iraq off the front pages.[64]

"Lady Al-Qaeda"[65]

—Headline reference to Siddiqui in New York Daily News

"Prisoner 650"[66]

—Headline reference to Siddiqui in Tehran Times

According to her ex-husband, after the global alert for her was issued Siddiqui went into hiding, and worked for al-Qaeda.[17][47][67] During her disappearance Khan said he saw her at Islamabad airport in April 2003, as she disembarked from a flight with their son, and said he helped Inter-Services Intelligence identify her. He said he again saw her two years later, in a Karachi traffic jam.[17][21]

Media reports Siddiqui having told the FBI that she worked at the Karachi Institute of Technology in 2005, was in Afghanistan in the winter of 2007; she stayed for a time during her disappearance in Quetta, Pakistan, and was sheltered by various people.[11][14][68] According to an intelligence official in the Afghan Ministry of the Interior, her son Ahmad, who was with her when she was arrested, said he and Siddiqui had worked in an office in Pakistan, collecting money for poor people.[14] He told Afghan investigators that on August 14, 2008, they had traveled by road from Quetta, Pakistan, to Afghanistan.[30] Amjad Khan, who unsuccessfully sought custody of his eldest son, Ahmad, said most of the claims of the family in the Pakistani media relating to her and their children were to garner public support and sympathy for her; he said they were one-sided and in mostly false.[30][47] An Afghan intelligence official said he believes that Siddiqui was working with Jaish-e-Mohammed (the "Army of Muhammad"), a Pakistani Islamic mujahedeen military group that fights in Kashmir and Afghanistan.[14]

Siddiqui's maternal uncle, Shams ul-Hassan Faruqi, said that on January 22, 2008, she visited him in Islamabad.[17][21] He said that she told him she had been held by Pakistani agencies, and asked for his help in order to cross into Afghanistan, where she thought she would be safe in the hands of the Taliban.[17][21] He had worked in Afghanistan, and made contact with the Taliban in 1999, but told her he was no longer in touch with them. He notified his sister, Siddiqui's mother, who came the next day to see her daughter. He said that Siddiqui stayed with them for two days.[69] Her uncle has signed an affidavit swearing to these facts.[30]

Ahmad and Siddiqui reappeared in 2008.[14] Afghan authorities handed the boy over to Pakistan in September 2008, and he now lives with his aunt in Karachi, who has prohibited him from talking to the press.[14][14][17] In April 2010, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that a 12-year-old girl who was found outside a house in Karachi was identified by a DNA test as Siddiqui's daughter Mariyam, and that she had been returned to her family.[70]

Alternative scenarios[]

Siddiqui's sister and mother denied that she had any connections to al-Qaeda, and that the U.S. detained her secretly in Afghanistan after she disappeared in Pakistan in March 2003 with her three children. They point to comments by former Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, detainees who say they believe a woman held at the prison while they were there was Siddiqui.[56] Her sister said that Siddiqui had been raped, and tortured for five years.[71][72] According to Islamic convert and former Taliban captive Yvonne Ridley, Siddiqui spent those years in solitary confinement at Bagram as Prisoner 650. Six human rights groups, including Amnesty International, listed her as possibly being a "ghost prisoner" held by the U.S.[11][37] Siddiqui claimed that she had been kidnapped by U.S. intelligence and Pakistani intelligence.[11]

Siddiqui has not explained clearly what happened to her two missing children.[11] She alternated between saying that the two youngest children were dead, and that they were with her sister Fowzia, according to a psychiatric exam.[27] She told one FBI agent that sometimes one has to take up a cause that is more important than one's children.[68] Khan said he believed that the missing children were in Karachi, either with or in contact with Siddiqui's family, and not in U.S. detention.[30][47][73] He said that they were seen in her sister's house in Karachi and in Islamabad on several occasions since their alleged disappearance in 2003.[30][47][74]

In April 2010, Mariam was found outside the family house wearing a collar with the address of the family home.[75] She was said to be speaking English. A Pakistani ministry official said the girl was believed to have been held captive in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2010.[76][77] The U.S. government said it did not hold Siddiqui during that time period, and had no knowledge of her whereabouts from March 2003 until July 2008.[78] The U.S. ambassador to Islamabad, Anne Patterson, categorically stated that Siddiqui had not been in U.S. custody "at any time" prior to July 2008.[17] A U.S. Justice Department spokesman called the allegations "absolutely baseless and false", a CIA spokesman also denied that she had been detained by the U.S., and Gregory Sullivan, a State Department spokesman, said: "For several years, we have had no information regarding her whereabouts whatsoever. It is our belief that she ... has all this time been concealed from the public view by her own choosing."[37] Assistant U.S. Attorney David Raskin said in 2008 that U.S. agencies had searched for evidence to support allegations that Siddiqui was detained in 2003, and held for years, but found "zero evidence" that she was abducted, kidnapped, raped or tortured. He added: "A more plausible inference is that she went into hiding because people around her started to get arrested, and at least two of those people ended up at Guantanamo Bay.[79] According to some U.S. officials, she went underground after the FBI alert for her was issued, and was at large working on behalf of al-Qaeda.[17][67] The Guardian cited an anonymous senior Pakistani official suggesting an "invaluable asset" like Siddiqui may have been "flipped" — turned against militant sympathisers — by Pakistani or American intelligence.[17]

Ahmed Siddiqui's account[]

File:Ahmed Siddiqu, son of Aafia Siddiqui, in 2008.jpg

Ahmed Siddiqu, son of Aafia Siddiqui, in 2008.

In August 2010 Yvonne Ridley reported that she had acquired a three-paragraph statement taken from Ahmed by a U.S. officer before he was released from U.S. custody.[80][nb 2]

Ahmed described Aafia driving a vehicle taking the family from Karachi to Islamabad, when it was overtaken by several vehicles, and he and his mother were taken into custody. He described the bloody body of his baby brother being left on the side of the road. He said that he had been too afraid to ask his interrogators who they were, but that they included both Pakistanis and Americans. He described beatings when he was in U.S. custody. Eventually, he said, he was sent to a conventional childrens' prison in Pakistan.

His statement does not describe how he and his mother came to be in Ghazni in 2008.[80]

Arrest in Afghanistan[]

Siddiqui was approached by Ghazni Province police officers outside the Ghazni governor's compound on the evening of July 17, 2008 in the city of Ghazni. With two small bags at her side, crouching on the ground, she aroused the suspicion of a man who feared she might be concealing a bomb under the burqua that she was wearing.[2] A shopkeeper noticed a woman in a burqa drawing a map, which is suspicious in Afghanistan where women are generally illiterate.[14][18] She was accompanied by a teenage boy about 12, whom she reportedly claimed was an orphan she had adopted.[27] She said her name was Saliha, that she was from Multan in Pakistan, and that the boy's name was Ali Hassan.[2] Discovering that she did not speak either of Afghanistan's main dialects, Pashtu or Dari, the officers regarded her as suspicious.[18]

File:Plum Island Animal Disease Center.jpg

The Plum Island Animal Disease Center, one of the locations listed in Siddiqui's notes with regard to a "mass casualty" attack

In a bag she was carrying, the police found that she had a number of documents written in Urdu and English describing the creation of explosives, chemical weapons, Ebola, dirty bombs, and radiological agents (which discussed mortality rates of certain of the weapons), and handwritten notes referring to a "mass casualty attack" that listed various U.S. locations and landmarks (including the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the New York City subway system), according to her indictment.[2][12][18][81] The Globe also mentioned one document about a 'theoretical' biological weapon that did not harm children.[14] She also reportedly had documents detailing U.S. "military assets", excerpts from The Anarchist's Arsenal, a one-gigabyte digital media storage device that contained over 500 electronic documents (including correspondence referring to attacks by "cells", describing the U.S. as an enemy, and discussing recruitment of jihadists and training), maps of Ghazni and the provincial governor's compounds and the mosques he prayed in, and photos of Pakistani military people.[11][2][12][17][18][82][83] Other notes described various ways to attack enemies, including by destroying reconnaissance drones, using underwater bombs, and using gliders.[11][12]

She also had "numerous chemical substances in gel and liquid form that were sealed in bottles and glass jars", according to the later complaint against her,[2][12][17][18][82][84] and about two pounds of sodium cyanide, a highly toxic poison.[11][15] The U.S. prosecutors later said that sodium cyanide is lethal even when ingested in small doses (even less than five milligrams), and various of the other chemicals she had can be used in explosives.[85] Abdul Ghani, Ghazni's deputy police chief, said she later confessed that she intended to carry out a suicide attack against the provincial governor.[83]

The officers arrested her, as she cursed them, and took her to a police station. She said that the boy found with her was her stepson, Ali Hasan; Siddiqui subsequently admitted he was her biological son, when DNA testing proved the boy to be Ahmed.[2][27]

There are conflicting accounts of the events following her arrest which led to her being sent to the United States for trial. American authorities say that two FBI agents, a U.S. Army warrant officer, a U.S. Army captain, and their U.S. military interpreters arrived in Ghazni the following day, on July 18, to interview Siddiqui at the Afghan National Police facility where she was being held.[12][18][82][86]

Shooting[]

"It was pure chaos."[87]

—Captain Robert Snyder
  • American authorities say that the following day, on July 18, two FBI agents, a U.S. Army warrant officer, a U.S. Army captain, and their U.S. military interpreters arrived in Ghazni to interview Siddiqui at the Afghan National Police facility where she was being held.[12][18][82][86] They reported they congregated in a meeting room that was partitioned by a curtain, but did not realize that Siddiqui was standing unsecured behind the curtain.[12][18][86] The warrant officer sat down adjacent to the curtain, and put his loaded M4 carbine assault rifle on the floor by his feet, next to the curtain.[18][86] Siddiqui drew back the curtain, picked up the rifle, and pointed it at the captain.[82][86] “I could see the barrel of the rifle, the inner portion of the barrel of the weapon; that indicated to me that it was pointed straight at my head,” he said.[82][86]

Then, she was said to have threatened them loudly in English, and yelled "Get the fuck out of here" and "May the blood of [unintelligible] be on your [head or hands]".[18][86] The captain dove for cover to his left, as she yelled "Allah Akbar" and fired at least two shots at them, missing them.[11][82][86]

An Afghan interpreter who was seated closest to her lunged, grabbed and pushed the rifle, and tried to wrest it from her.[12][18][82][86][88] At that point the warrant officer returned fire with a 9-millimeter pistol, hitting her in the torso, and one of the interpreters managed to wrestle the rifle away from her.[11][18][58][86] During the ensuing struggle she initially struck and kicked the officers, while shouting in English that she wanted to kill Americans, and then lost consciousness.[12][18][86]

  • Siddiqui related a different version of events, according to Pakistani senators who later visited her in jail. She denied touching a gun, shouting, or threatening anyone. She said she stood up to see who was on the other side of the curtain, and that after one of the startled soldiers shouted "She is loose", she was shot. On regaining consciousness, she said someone said "We could lose our jobs."[21]
  • Some of the Afghan police offered a third version of the events, telling Reuters that U.S. troops had demanded that she be handed over, disarmed the Afghans when they refused, and then shot Siddiqui mistakenly thinking she was a suicide bomber.[89]

Siddiqui was taken to Bagram Air Base by helicopter in critical condition. When she arrived at the hospital she was rated at 3 on the Glasgow Coma Scale, but she underwent emergency surgery without complication. She was hospitalized at the Craig Theater Joint Hospital, and recovered over the next two weeks.[21][27] Once she was in a stable condition, the Afghan government allowed the Americans to transport her to the United States for trial. The day after landing, Siddiqui was arraigned in a Manhattan courtroom on charges of attempted murder. Her three-person defense team was hired by the Pakistani embassy to supplement her two existing public defenders, but Siddiqui refused to cooperate with them.[21]

Trial[]

Charges[]

Siddiqui was charged on July 31, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, with assault with a deadly weapon, and with attempting to kill U.S. personnel.[17][18] She was flown to New York on August 6, and indicted on September 3, 2008, on two counts of attempted murder of U.S. nationals, officers, and employees, assault with a deadly weapon, carrying and using a firearm, and three counts of assault on U.S. officers and employees.[12][90][91]

Explaining why the U.S. may have chosen to charge her as they did, rather than for her alleged terrorism, Bruce Hoffman, professor of security studies at Georgetown University, said the decision turned what might have been a potentially complex terrorism matter into a more straightforward case:

"There’s no intelligence data that needs to be introduced, no sources and methods that need to be risked. It’s a good old-fashioned crime; it’s the equivalent of a 1920s gangster with a tommy gun."[92]

Medical treatment and psychological assessments[]

According to FBI reports prepared shortly after July 18, 2008, Siddiqui repeatedly denied shooting anyone, and later told a U.S. special agent at the Craig Hospital on or about August 1 that "'spewing bullets at soldiers is bad', but to her surprise 'you' have still taken care of me and treated me well." [93] On August 11, after her counsel maintained that Siddiqui had not seen a doctor since arriving in the U.S. the previous week, U.S. magistrate judge Henry B. Pitman ordered that she be examined by a medical doctor within 24 hours.[94] Prosecutors maintained that Siddiqui had been provided with adequate medical care since her detention in Afghanistan, though at the hearing they were unable to confirm whether she had been seen in New York by a doctor or by a paramedic.[95] The judge postponed her bail hearing until September 3.[96] An examination by a doctor the following day found no visible signs of infection; she also received a CAT scan.[97]

Siddiqui was provided care for her wound while incarcerated in the U.S.[27] In September 2008, a prosecutor reported to the court that Siddiqui had refused to be examined by a female doctor, despite the doctor's extensive efforts.[93] On September 9, 2008, she underwent a forced medical exam.[27] In November 2008, forensic psychologist Dr. Leslie Powers reported that Siddiqui had been "reluctant to allow medical staff to treat her". Her last medical exam had indicated her external wounds no longer required medical dressing, and were healing well.[98] A psychiatrist employed by the prosecutor to examine Siddiqui's competence to stand trial, Gregory B. Saathoff M.D., noted in a March 2009 report that Siddiqui frequently verbally and physically refused to allow the medical staff to check her vital signs and weight, attempted to refuse medical care once it was apparent that her wound had largely healed, and refused to take antibiotics.[27] At the same time, Siddiqui claimed to her brother that when she needed medical treatment she did not get it, which Saathoff said he found no support for in his review of documents and interviews with medical and security personnel, nor in his interviews with Siddiqui.[27]

Siddiqui's trial was subject to delays, the longest being six months in order to perform psychiatric evaluations.[17] She had been given routine mental health check-ups ten times in August and six times in September.

She underwent three sets of psychological assessments before trial. Her first psychiatric evaluation diagnosed her with depressive psychosis, and her second evaluation, ordered by the court, revealed chronic depression.[99] Leslie Powers initially determined Siddiqui mentally unfit to stand trial. After reviewing portions of FBI reports, however, she told the pre-trial judge she believed Siddiqui was faking mental illness.[14]

In a third set of psychological assessments, more detailed than the previous two, three of four psychiatrists concluded that she was"malingering" (faking her symptoms of mental illness). One suggested that this was to prevent criminal prosecution, and to improve her chances of being returned to Pakistan.[17][93] In April 2009, Manhattan federal judge Richard Berman held that she "may have some mental health issues" but was competent to stand trial.[17][93][98]

Objection to jurors with Zionist or Israeli background[]

Siddiqui said she did not want jurors with Zionist or Israeli background on the jury. She demanded that all prospective jurors be DNA-tested, and excluded from the jury at her trial:

if they have a Zionist or Israeli background ... they are all mad at me ... I have a feeling everyone here is them—subject to genetic testing. They should be excluded, if you want to be fair.[100]

Siddiqui's legal team said, in regard to her comments, that her incarceration had damaged her mind.[11][101]

Prior to her trial, Siddiqui said she was innocent of all charges. She maintained she could prove she was innocent, but refused to do so in court.[102] On January 11, 2010, Siddiqui told the Judge that she would not cooperate with her attorneys, and wanted to fire them.[103] She also said she did not trust the Judge, and added, “I’m boycotting the trial, just to let all of you know. There’s too many injustices." She then put her head down on the defense table as the prosecution proceeded.[104]

Trial proceedings[]

Siddiqui's trial began in New York City on January 19, 2010.[105][106][107][108] Prior to the jury entering the courtroom, Siddiqui told onlookers that she would not work with her lawyers because the court was not fair.[109] She also said: "I have information about attacks, more than 9/11! ... I want to help the President to end this group, to finish them ... They are a domestic, U.S. group; they are not Muslim."[15][110]

Nine government witnesses were called by the prosecution: Army Captain Robert Snyder, John Threadcraft, a former army officer, and FBI agent John Jefferson testified first.[5] As Snyder testified that Siddiqui had been arrested with a handwritten note outlining plans to attack various U.S. sites, she retorted: "If you were in a secret prison ... where children were raped and tortured ... This is no list of targets against New York. I was never planning to bomb it. You're lying."[111][112][113][114] The court also heard from FBI agent John Jefferson and Ahmed Gul, an army interpreter, who recounted their struggle with her.[115]

The judge allowed the jury to hear about her target list and other handwritten notes, but not about the chemicals and mass-produced documents from "how-to" terror manuals, or about Siddiqui's alleged ties to al-Qaeda because they could have created an inappropriate bias.[116]

The defense said there was no forensic evidence that the rifle was fired in the interrogation room.[110] They noted the nine government witnesses offered conflicting accounts of how many people were in the room, where they were positioned and how many shots were fired.[5] It said it her handbag contents were not credible as evidence because they were sloppily handled.[117] According to the Associated Press of Pakistan, Carlo Rosati, an FBI firearms expert witness in the federal court doubted whether the M-4 rifle was ever fired at the crime scene.; an FBI agent testified that Siddiqui's fingerprints were not found on the rifle.[118] The prosecution argued that it was not unusual to fail to get fingerprints off a gun. "This is a crime that was committed in a war zone, a chaotic and uncontrolled environment 6,000 miles away from here."[113] Gul's testimony appeared, according to the defense, to differ from that given by Snyder with regard to whether Siddiqui was standing or on her knees as she fired the rifle.[119] When Siddiqui testified, though she admitted trying to escape, she denied that she had grabbed the rifle and said she had been raped and tortured in secret prisons before her arrest by a “group of people pretending to be Americans, doing bad things in America’s name.”[19]

During the trial, Siddiqui was removed from the court several times for repeatedly interrupting the proceedings with shouting; on being ejected, she was told by the judge that she could watch the proceedings on closed-circuit television in an adjacent holding cell. A request by the defense lawyers to declare a mistrial was turned down by the judge.[120]

Conviction[]

File:Fed29jail5bbtjeh.JPG

Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, where Siddiqui was imprisoned

The trial lasted 14 days, with the jury deliberating for three days before reaching a verdict.[5][6] On February 3, 2010, she was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder, armed assault, using and carrying a firearm, and three counts of assault on U.S. officers and employees.[5][6][16] After jurors found Siddiqui guilty, she exclaimed: "This is a verdict coming from Israel, not America. That’s where the anger belongs."[121]

She faced a minimum sentence of 30 years and a maximum of life in prison on the firearm charge, and could also have received a sentence of up to 20 years for each attempted murder and armed assault charge, and up to 8 years on each of the remaining assault counts.[6] Her lawyers requested a 12-year sentence, instead of the life sentence recommended by the probation office. They argued that mental illness drove her actions when she attempted to escape from the Afghan National Police station "by any means available ... what she viewed as a horrific fate".[7] Her lawyers also claimed her mental illness was on display during her trial outbursts and boycotts, and that she was "first and foremost" the victim of her own irrational behavior. The sentencing hearing set to take place on May 6, 2010,[16] was rescheduled for mid-August 2010,[122] and then September 2010.[7]

Siddiqui (Federal Bureau of Prisons #90279-054) was originally held at Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn.[123] She is now being held in Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.[124]

Sentencing[]

File:CarswellFMCFortWorthTX.jpg

Federal Medical Center, Carswell, where Siddiqui is currently located

Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison (effectively a life sentence) by the federal judge Berman in Manhattan on September 23, 2010, following a one-hour hearing in which she testified, .[125][126]

In sentencing her, Judge Berman said: "As she did this ... [she uttered] in the same impeccable English that she has demonstrated here in the courtroom, anti-American sentiments” like “ ‘I want to kill Americans’ ” and “ ‘Death to America.’ ” Referring to her five-year disappearance and her claims of torture, the judge said:

I am aware of no evidence in the record to substantiate these allegations or to establish them as fact. There is no credible evidence in the record that the United States officials and/or agencies detained Dr. Siddiqui” before her 2008 arrest.[127]

After she was sentenced, Siddiqui urged forgiveness and asked the public not to take any action in retaliation.[126]

Imprisonment[]

Siddiqui (Federal Bureau of Prisons #90279-054) was originally held at Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn.[126] She is now being held in Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.[127]



Reaction[]

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, criticised the conviction and the judicial process saying it was carried out by a kangaroo court, with the judge displaying an "open bias" and the trial was unjust.[128]

Taliban reaction[]

According to a February 2010 report in the Pakistani newspaper The News International, the Taliban threatened to execute captured U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, whom they have held since June 2009, in retaliation for Siddiqui's conviction. A Taliban spokesperson claimed that members of Siddiqui's family had requested help from the Taliban to obtain her release from prison in the U.S.[129][130]

In September 2010 the Taliban kidnapped Linda Norgrove, a Scottish aid worker in Afghanistan, and Taliban commanders insisted Norgrove would be handed over only in exchange for Siddiqui.[131][132][133][134] On October 8, 2010, Norgrove was killed during a rescue attempt by a grenade accidentally thrown by one of her rescuers.[89][89][135][136][137]

Reaction in Pakistan[]

In August 2009, Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani met with Siddiqui's sister at his residence, and assured her that Pakistan would seek Siddiqui's release from the U.S.[138] The Pakistani government paid $2 million for the services of three lawyers to defend Siddiqui during her trial.[139] Many Siddiqui supporters were present during the proceedings, and outside the court dozens of people rallied to demand her release.[140]

A petition was filed seeking action against the Pakistani government for it having not approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to have Siddiqui released from the United States. Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffree said the CIA arrested Siddiqui in Karachi in 2003, and one of her sons was killed during her arrest. On January 21, 2010, Jaffree submitted documents allegedly proving the arrest to the Lahore High Court.[141]

In Pakistan, Siddiqui's February 2010 conviction was followed with expressions of support by many Pakistanis, who appeared increasingly anti-American, as well as by politicians and the news media, who characterized her as a symbol of victimization by the United States.[30] Her ex-husband, Amjad Khan, was one of the few who expressed a different view, saying that Siddiqui was "reaping the fruit of her own decision. Her family has been portraying Aafia as a victim. We would like the truth to come out."[142]

After Siddiqui's conviction, she sent a message through her lawyer, saying that she does not want "violent protests or violent reprisals in Pakistan over this verdict."[5] Thousands of students, political and social activists protested in Pakistan.[56] Some shouted anti-American slogans, while burning the American flag and effigies of President Barack Obama in the streets.[143][144] Her sister has spoken frequently and passionately on her behalf at rallies.[30][144][145] Echoing her family's comments, and anti-U.S. sentiment, many believe she was picked up in Karachi in 2003, detained at the U.S. Bagram Airbase, raped and tortured, and that the charges against her were fabricated.[56][146]

The Pakistani Embassy in Washington, DC, expressed its dismay over the verdict, which followed "intense diplomatic and legal efforts on her behalf. [We] will consult the family of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and the team of defense lawyers to determine the future course of action."[147] Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani described Siddiqui as a “daughter of the nation,” and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif promised to push for her release.[30] On February 18, President Asif Ali Zardari requested of Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, that the U.S. consider repatriating Siddiqui to Pakistan under the Pakistan-U.S. Prisoner Exchange Agreement.[148][149] On February 22, the Pakistani Senate passed a resolution expressing its grave concern over Siddiqui's sentence, and demanding that the government take effective steps including diplomatic measures to secure her immediate release.[150]

Shireen Mazari, editor of the right-wing Pakistani newspaper The Nation, wrote that the verdict "did not really surprise anyone familiar with the vindictive mindset of the U.S. public post-9/11".[151] Foreign Policy reported that rumors about her alleged sexual abuse by captors, fuelled by constant stories in the Pakistani press, had made her a folk hero, and "become part of the legend that surrounds her, so much so that they are repeated as established facts by her supporters, who have helped build her iconic status".[144]

Steve Inskeep of National Public Radio noted on March 1 that while when Siddiqui's case has been covered in the U.S., it has mostly been described as a straightforward case of terrorism, in contrast when "the Pakistani media described this very same woman, this very same case, the assumptions are all very different".[152] The News International, Pakistan's largest circulation English tabloid, carried a March 3 letter from Talat Farooq, the executive editor of the magazine Criterion in Islamabad, in which she wrote:

The media has highlighted her ordeal without debating the downside of her story in objective detail. A whole generation of Pakistanis, grown up in an environment that discourages critical analysis and dispassionate objectivity ... has ... allowed their emotions to be exploited. The Aafia case is complex... The grey lady is grey precisely because of her murky past and the question mark hanging over her alleged links to militants.... Her family's silence during the years of her disappearance, and her ex-husband's side of the story, certainly provide fodder to the opposing point of view.... The right-wing parties ... have once again played the card of anti-Americanism to attain their own political ends.... Our hatred of America, based on some very real grievances, also serves as a readily available smokescreen to avoid any rational thinking.[153]

A New York Times article reviewing the Pakistani reaction noted: "All of this has taken place with little national soul-searching about the contradictory and frequently damning circumstances surrounding Ms. Siddiqui, who is suspected of having had links to Al Qaeda and the banned jihadi group Jaish-e-Muhammad. Instead, the Pakistani news media have broadly portrayed her trial as a “farce”, and an example of the injustices meted out to Muslims by the United States since Sept. 11, 2001."[30]

Jessica Eve Stern, a terrorism specialist and lecturer at Harvard Law School, observed: "Whatever the truth is, this case is of great political importance because of how people [in Pakistan] view her."[14]

In September 2010, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik sent a letter to the United States Attorney General calling for repatriation of Siddiqui to Pakistan. He said that the case of Siddiqui had become a matter of public concern in Pakistan and her repatriation would create goodwill for the U.S.[154]

On September 27, 2010 the MQM announced that it would take out a procession the next day "to condemn the sentence awarded to Dr Aafia Siddiqui in the United States." [155]

See also[]

  • Michael Finton, American who attempted 2009 bombing of U.S. target with FBI agent he thought was al-Qaeda member
  • Nidal Malik Hasan, American 2009 Fort Hood shooter
  • Colleen LaRose (JihadJane), American charged in 2010 with trying to recruit Islamic terrorists to wage jihad and murder artist Lars Vilks
  • Sharif Mobley, American suspected al-Qaeda member, arrested in Yemen in 2010 and accused of killing guard in escape attempt
  • Faisal Shahzad, Pakistani-American, trained in Waziristan training camp to commit 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt
  • Bryant Neal Vinas, American convicted in 2009 of participating in/supporting al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S.
  • Najibullah Zazi, U.S. resident and al-Qaeda member, pleaded guilty in 2010 of planning suicide bombings of New York City subway
  • 2009 detention of Americans by Pakistan, five Muslim Americans charged by Pakistan in 2010 with terrorism-related offenses

Notes[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 The Most Wanted Woman in the World [1] March 1, 2005
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 Von Mittelstaedt, Juliane (November 27, 2008). "America's Most Wanted: 'The Most Dangerous Woman in the World'". News – International. Der Spiegel. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,593195,00.html. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Clashing views of MIT grad suspected of terrorism [2] Neumeister, Larry August 23, 2008
  4. "SCBA President urges Govt to bring back Dr. Aafia otherwise stern movement to be launched". Raychannel.com. July 16, 2010. http://raychannel.com/index.php?option=com_news&task=view&id=4796&cat=7&Itemid=25. Retrieved October 7, 2010. [dead link]
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Aafia Siddiqui Guilty of Shooting at Americans in Afghanistan [3] Hughes, C. J. February 3, 2010
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Public Information Office, United States Attorney Southern District of New York (February 3, 2010). "Aafia Siddiqui Found Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court of Attempting to Murder U.S. Nationals in Afghanistan and Six Additional Charges". Press release. http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/February10/siddiquiaafiaverdictpr.pdf. Retrieved February 14, 2010. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Pakistani scientist lawyers seek 12-year sentence [4] Larry Neumeister July 28, 2010
  8. 8.0 8.1 Pakistani given 86 years for firing at US troops [5] Tom Hays September 23, 2010
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Scientist Gets 86 Years for Firing at Americans - NYTimes.com [6] July 18, 2008
  10. Von Mittelstaedt, Juliane (November 27, 2008). "America's Most Wanted: 'The Most Dangerous Woman in the World'". p. 2. News – International. Der Spiegel. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  11. 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 11.12 11.13 11.14 11.15 Al-Qaeda Woman? Putting Aafia Siddiqui on Trial [7] Time January 18, 2010
  12. 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 12.14 "Indictment in U.S. v. Siddiqui". September 3, 2008. http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/US_v_Siddiqui_ind.pdf. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
  13. "FBI Seeking Information poster". The FBI (reprinted by NEFA Foundation). 2003. http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/FBI_Seeking_Info_Siddiqui.pdf. Retrieved August 5, 2010. 
  14. 14.00 14.01 14.02 14.03 14.04 14.05 14.06 14.07 14.08 14.09 14.10 14.11 14.12 14.13 14.14 14.15 14.16 14.17 14.18 14.19 14.20 Alleged Pakistani militant stands trial today in NYC; Scientist trained at MIT, Brandeis [8] January 19, 2010
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Pakistani Scientist Guilty of Attack on Soldiers, FBI Agents [9] February 4, 2010
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Pakistani scientist found guilty of attempted murder of U.S. agents [10] February 4, 2010
  17. 17.00 17.01 17.02 17.03 17.04 17.05 17.06 17.07 17.08 17.09 17.10 17.11 17.12 17.13 17.14 17.15 17.16 17.17 17.18 17.19 17.20 17.21 17.22 The mystery of Dr Aafia Siddiqui [11] November 24, 2009
  18. 18.00 18.01 18.02 18.03 18.04 18.05 18.06 18.07 18.08 18.09 18.10 18.11 18.12 18.13 18.14 FBI Special Agent (July 13, 2008). "Sealed Complaint in U.S. v. Aafia Siddiqui". http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2008/August/siddiqui-aafia-complaint.pdf. Retrieved May 14, 2010. 
  19. 19.0 19.1 Neuroscientist denies trying to kill Americans [12] January 28, 2010
  20. Pakistani Scientist Is Found Fit to Stand Trial [13] City Room Blog July 29, 2009
  21. 21.00 21.01 21.02 21.03 21.04 21.05 21.06 21.07 21.08 21.09 21.10 21.11 21.12 Bartosiewicz, Petra (November 2009). "The intelligence factory: How America makes its enemies disappear". Harper's Magazine. http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/11/0082719. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
  22. Amnesty Intl staff (January 19, 2010). "Amnesty International to observe the Trial of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui". Amnesty.org. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR51/004/2010/en/12fabc51-a78a-4e9a-938e-d4c589eba1d4/amr510042010en.html. 
  23. "Hearing deferred to Aug 16". Nation.com.pk. May 6, 2010. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/06-May-2010/Hearing-deferred-to-Aug-16/. Retrieved September 27, 2010. 
  24. 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 24.6 Mystery of Siddiqui disappearance [14] BBC News August 6, 2008
  25. U.S. Department of Justice (September 8, 2008). "Aafia Siddiqui Indicted for Attempting to Kill United States Nationals in Afghanistan and Six Additional Charges". Press release. http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2008/September/08-nsd-765.html. 
  26. Taliban demands release of Pak terror suspect Aafia, threatens to kill US soldier [15] ANI staff February 5, 2010
  27. 27.00 27.01 27.02 27.03 27.04 27.05 27.06 27.07 27.08 27.09 27.10 27.11 27.12 27.13 27.14 Saathoff, Gregory B (March 15, 2009). "Forensic Psychiatric Evaluation; CST Aafia Siddiqui". Court document (reprinted by the NEFA Foundation). p. 47. http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/US_v_Siddiqui_Saathoffeval.pdf. Retrieved February 13, 2010. 
  28. 28.0 28.1 28.2 Dickey, Christopher (2009). Securing the City: Inside America's Best Counterterror Force—The NYPD. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1416552405. http://books.google.com/?id=vNQKtn7oXMAC&pg=PA89&dq=%22aafia+siddiqui%22&cd=1#v=onepage&q=%22aafia%20siddiqui%22. Retrieved February 16, 2010. 
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 29.5 29.6 29.7 Who's Afraid of Aafia Siddiqui? [16] Ozment, Katherine Boston Magazine October 2004
  30. 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 30.5 30.6 30.7 30.8 30.9 U.S. Sees a Terror Threat; Pakistanis See a Heroine [17] The New York Times March 5, 2010
  31. Kephart, Janice L. (September 2009). "Immigration and Terrorism – Moving Beyond the 9/11 Staff report on Terrorist Travel". Center for Immigration Studies. http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/kephart.html#156. Retrieved April 10, 2010. 
  32. "The Carroll L. Wilson Award Recipients 1986–2005". MIT Entrepreneurship Center. http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/clw-award-recipients#1992. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
  33. 33.0 33.1 E-mails Show MIT Grad Taught School While Raising Money for Terror-Linked Group [18] Fox News August 22, 2008
  34. War On Terror; Former MIT student and her pals now hunted by FBI [] J. M. Lawrence May 27, 2004
  35. Chandna, Marium (January 19, 2009). "U.S. ignores 'innocent until proven guilty' for alleged terrorists". The Tartan (Carnegie Mellon's Student Newspaper). http://www.thetartan.org/2009/1/19/forum/siddiqui. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
  36. Scientist decries guilty verdict [19] The Boston Globe February 4, 2010
  37. 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 Activist turned extremist, US says Ex-Hub woman tied to Al Qaeda [20] August 12, 2008
  38. Aafia Siddiqui: Victimized by American Injustice [21] February 8, 2010
  39. Siddiqui, Aafia (2001). "Separating the components of imitation". Dissertation:Thesis (Ph. D.), Brandeis University. WorldCat.org. p. 183. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/47642755. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
  40. Sekuler, R; Siddiqui, A; Goyal, N; Rajan, R (2003). "Reproduction of seen actions: stimulus-selective learning.". Perception 32 (7): 839–54. doi:10.1068/p5064. PMID 12974569. 
  41. Hasan, Hasan (March 27, 2003). "Pakistani couple sought in Qaeda hunt". Daily Times. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_27-3-2003_pg7_56. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
  42. Roxbury address eyed in FBI probe [22] April 10, 2004
  43. Woman Sought by FBI Reportedly Arrested in Pakistan: Neurologist Questioned by FBI for Alleged Al-Qaida Links [23] NBC5 staff April 3, 2003
  44. Al-Qaeda bought diamonds before 9/11 [24] AP staff August 8, 2004
  45. "Special Court for Sierra Leone: Office of the Prosecutor: Profile, Aafia Siddiqui" (PDF). NEFA Foundation. http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/AafiaSiddiqui_SierraLeoneProfile.pdf. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
  46. ""Special Court for Sierra Leone: Office of the Prosecutor: Profile, Aafia Siddiqui," accessed February 15, 2010" (PDF). http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/AafiaSiddiqui_SierraLeoneProfile.pdf. Retrieved March 7, 2010. 
  47. 47.0 47.1 47.2 47.3 47.4 47.5 47.6 Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s husband breaks his silence after six years [25] February 18, 2009
  48. 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 48.4 "Detainee Biography: Ammar al-Baluchi". Announncements. U.S. Director of National Intelligence. http://www.dni.gov/announcements/content/DetaineeBiographies.pdf. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
  49. Sjoberg, Laura; Gentry, Caron E. (2007). Mothers, monsters, whores: women's violence in global politics. Zed Books. ISBN 1842778668. http://books.google.com/?id=MdIEqP3sz6kC&pg=PA125&dq=Aafia+siddiqui&cd=9#v=onepage&q=Aafia%20siddiqui. Retrieved March 7, 2010. 
  50. Public Information Office, U. S. Attorney Southern District of New York (July 20, 2006). "Pakistani Man Convicted Of Providing Material Support To Al Qaeda Sentenced To Thirty Years In Federal Prison" (PDF). Press release. http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/July06/parachasentencingpr.pdf. Retrieved May 14, 2010. 
  51. Bone, James; Zahid Hussain (August 7, 2008). "Accused terror scientist in court". The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/accused-terror-scientist-in-court/story-e6frg6tf-1111117124811. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
  52. The mystery of Dr Aafia Siddiqui [26] The Guardian November 24, 2009
  53. Family Affair, Just Maybe, at Courthouse [27] The New York Times December 9, 2009
  54. Kucharski, L. Thomas (July 2, 2009). "Forensic Psychological Evaluation; Aafia Siddiqui". http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/US_v_Siddiqui_KucharskiEval.pdf. Retrieved February 13, 2010. 
  55. Suspect scientist in court [28] The Sydney Morning Herald August 7, 2008
  56. 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 56.4 56.5 56.6 Is she a victim of the U.S. or is she 'Terror Mom'? [29] Article Collections February 3, 2010
  57. Womaniser, joker, scuba diver: the other face of al-Qaida's No 3 [30] March 3, 2003
  58. 58.0 58.1 Mystery of 'ghost of Bagram' – victim of torture or captured in a shootout? [31] Goldenberg, Suzanne and Shah, Saeed The Guardian August 6, 2008
  59. Activist turned extremist, US says; Ex-Hub woman tied to Al Qaeda [32] August 12, 2008
  60. Pakistani woman in custody unlikely the one sought [33] AP staff April 22, 2004
  61. Winstein, Keith J.. "Reported Capture of MIT Alumna Denied by FBI". The Tech. http://tech.mit.edu/V123/N16/16_al_queda.16n.html. Retrieved February 3, 2010. 
  62. Pakistanis will not be extradited, US told [34] Dawn staff April 16, 2003[dead link]
  63. Esposito, Richard; Brian Ross (September 2, 2008). "Alleged Mata Hari of Al Qaeda Indicted: Could Provide 'Treasure Trove' of Intelligence". The Blotter from Brian Ross. ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5710043&page=1. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
  64. Pither, Kerry (2008). Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Raped and Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror. Penguin Books, Canada. p. 460. ISBN 978-0670068531. 
  65. Lady Al Qaeda' threat real, pol says; lawyers want to see evidence [35] August 14, 2008
  66. Is Aafia Siddiqui Bagram’s Prisoner 650? [36] August 2, 2008
  67. 67.0 67.1 FBI concedes Aafia Siddiqui in US custody: lawyer [37] Iqbal, Anwar August 4, 2008
  68. 68.0 68.1 Details emerge on woman accused of al-Qaida ties [38] The Guardian (UK) July 4, 2009
  69. Questions about convicted Pakistani doctor Siddiqui [39] February 4, 2010
  70. DNA proves the girl daughter of Aafia Siddiqui: Rehman Malik [40] Ibn-e-Umeed April 11, 2010
  71. Pakistani woman accused of aiding Al Qaeda operatives appears in court [41] August 6, 2008
  72. Mystery of 'ghost of Bagram'– victim of rape and torture or captured in a shootout? [42] August 6, 2008
  73. Dr Aafia’s ex-husband seeks children’s custody [43] Dawn staff July 8, 2009
  74. Details emerge on woman accused of al-Qaida [44] July 4, 2009
  75. "Mystery girl left outside Aafia’s house". Dawn.Com. April 5, 2010. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/19-mystery-girl-left-outside-aafias-house-540-hh-03. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
  76. "Abandoned girl’s blood sample obtained". Dawn.Com. April 6, 2010. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/abandoned-girls-blood-sample-obtained-640. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
  77. Tahir Niaz (April 11, 2010). "DNA proves girl is Aafia’s daughter: Malik". Daily Times (Pakistan). http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\11\story_11-4-2010_pg7_22. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
  78. Pakistani Woman Faces Assault Charges [45] The Washington Post August 6, 2008
  79. Prosecutor: No sign Pakistani suspect was abducted, raped, tortured [46] November 20, 2008
  80. 80.0 80.1 First Public Statement From Aafia’S Son On His Disappearance And Detention [47] August 24, 2010
  81. WJLA staff (August 13, 2008). "Officials: Female Terror Suspect's Capture Yields Documents, Computer Files". WJLA, ABC News 7 Arlington, VA. http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0808/543896.html. Retrieved March 14, 2010. 
  82. 82.0 82.1 82.2 82.3 82.4 82.5 82.6 82.7 Pakistani Woman Ejected From Trial Over Afghan Attack [48] January 19, 2010
  83. 83.0 83.1 Afghans suspected scientist of a suicide plot [49] August 6, 2008
  84. Pakistani woman charged with soldier attack to be arraigned in New York [50] AP staff August 5, 2008
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  108. Exclude Jew jurors, demands Dr Aafia [70] Staff reporter January 16, 2010
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  149. Richard Holbrooke calls on President [98] February 18, 2010
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  155. MQM to take out protest rally tomorrow nation.com.pk

References[]

External links[]

Primary sources[]

Court documents
Court documents posted by the NEFA Foundation

Other sources[]


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