FREE AAFIA CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCES PICKET ACTION AT THE US CONSULATE

Wear a purple scarf to show support

Date: Friday

time: 14h30 for 15h00

Address: US consulate Sandton – 1 Sandton Drive, Sandhurst (Opp. Sandton City Mall)

 

press release about this

In its continuing efforts to advocate for the plight of Dr Aafia Siddiqui the Free Aafia Campaign, an umbrella body representing a number of organizations recently announced a picket demonstration at the US Consulate in South Africa, to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the abduction and unjust incarceration of Dr Aafia Siddiqui who was sentenced in 2010 to a prison term of 86 years.

The campaign seeks to mobilise the community and create awareness around the case of the Pakistani neuroscientist who disappeared mysteriously from Pakistan in 2003 and was subsequently re-arrested in Afghanistan and extradited and sentenced in the United States.
The 30th of March will mark the 9th anniversary of Dr Siddiqui’s disappearance and separation from her family. A prominent theme of the picket will be to seek justice and freedom for the woman also known as “The grey lady of Bagram,” and “Prisoner 650”.
The campaign is being chaired by Inayet Wadee. Speaking at the launch, Wadee emphasized that the aim and objective of the picket is to highlight the plight of Dr Aafia Siddiqui. The action will be peaceful and based purely on humanitarian grounds. He confirmed that the picket action will take place in Sandton: at the offices of the US Consulate on Friday 30th March 2012 from 14h00 to 15h15. The organization endeavors that the action will be held in accordance with South African Legislation, and will ensure conformance to the rules granting permission to hold gatherings of this nature.
As part of the picket action, the organization will be handing over a memorandum to a senior United States Consular official. This will be at around 15h15, and we would appreciate it if an official will avail himself / herself to receive the memorandum, Wadee added.
Wadee also urged members of the community to come forward and assist in facilitating the campaign towards securing the freedom of Dr Aafia.
For further information, or to be part of any of the planned activities contact the following:
Shamshad Sayed Salman Khan Inayet Wadee
082 872 4859 082 691 6048 082 909 3366

What can you do for Dr Aafia Siddiqui?

1. Pray for her
2. MumTaz Desai posted on facebook

Andrew Purcel – There is something you can do for Aafia right now, and it is something that will have an immediate impact. Send her a postcard.

It doesn’t have to be fancy. Aafia is partial to nature scenes. You can’t talk about her case, but there isn’t that much room on a postcard, so any message would have to be short. All you really need to write is some combination of the following:
All you really need to write is some combination of the following:

Dear Aafia,
*We believe you.
*We love you.
*We are praying for you.
*We are praying for your children.
*We are praying for your mother.
*We are praying for your brother and sister.
*We are doing everything we can to bring you hom

Aafia is not allowed to receive packages, so if you send multiple postcards do not bundle them together. The prison authorities will consider that a package and throw them away.

Aafia’s mail privileges are often interfered with. She may not get any of your postcards, but the prison officials will know. Nothing makes prison officials more nervous than knowing someone from from the outside is watching what they do.

Address the postcards to:

Aafia Siddiqui
90279-054
FMC CARSWELL
FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTER
P.O. BOX 27137
FORT WORTH, TX 76127
USA
http://aafiamovement.com/132-2/

2. Fathima Haffejee posted on facebook
WRITE TO U.S President Obama regarding Affia. Here’s the link : http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

Submit Questions & Comments | The White House

Fauzia Siddiqui brief speech after police custody in pakistan after protest

Free talks for #FreeAafia

Lenasia Free Public meeting with Fauzia Siddiqui, Sister of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui on Monday, 20 Feb 2012 at the Baitun Noor Hall Lenasia Ext. 5 – 7:30pm – Free entrance. All welcome.

Durban Al Falaah  Sunday 19 February hosting sis Fowzia on sunday from 2-3pm. Free entrance for men and ladies. Donations welcome

Wits University  West Campus FNB 102 – Tuesday 21 February 2012 – 14h00 – 16h00

Tshwane Muslim School Wed 22 Feb 1.15pm – All welcome free entrance
Click on link and Sign Free Aafia Siddiqui Campaign Petition

 

February 2012

Feb. 10, 2012,
At a rally for Dr. Aafia, Pakistani security forces arrested and violently intercepted thousands of protesters wishing to stage a peaceful demonstration.
According to reports, Dr. Fauzia, sister of Dr. Aafia was beaten by security forces and sustained facial injuries. She was first removed to an undisclosed detention center then transferred to a police station.  Several others were also injured and detained.

February 8, 2012

The following is a the text of an open letter sent to Pakistani President Zardari from Fauzia Siddiqui.
Mr.Asif Ali Zardari
President,
Islamic republic of Pakistan,
Re: Aafia’s Upcoming Appeal Process, the Role of Your Government, and Broken promises.
Dear Sir,
This Friday, February 10, 2012, the world will be watching as court-appointed attorneys (who are paid by the US government, and Aafia has repeatedly attempted to fire) – will argue before a US Court of Appeals and purport to represent my sister’s interests against her will. This mockery of justice is simply yet another example of how Aafia’s conviction of a crime she did not commit is virtually guaranteed in the US “justice” system. Meanwhile, US agents who have perpetrated crimes against her – including kidnapping, torture, assault, and false imprisonment, have not been called to account.
It has now been three and a half years since agents of the US government shot my sister and the beginning of the 10th year since she was abducted – a Pakistani citizen – abducted from Pakistan through a rendition operation locked up in Afghanistan, and forcibly removed from Afghanistan after an implausible shoot out, and illegally transferred her to the United States.
So-called “high-profile” American criminal defense attorneys convinced the government of Pakistan to pay them millions of dollars – and then refused to resign when Aafia did not accept them. Neither did the Pakistani Government intervene. There can no longer be any doubt that Aafia will never receive justice in the US legal system.
I want to remind you today of the promises that you made, your Prime Minister made, Interior Ministry made and Foreign Ministry made. The promises that said Aafia will be back. Raymond Davis and several other mercenaries have walked free from our land, but innocent citizens are languishing due to the negligence and criminal silence of your administration.
Now, more than ever, the fate of this Daughter of the Nation lies in the hands of the Pakistani government to bring her home.

Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui
source: free aafia

Before

Dr Aafia Siddiqui sentenced to 86 years. I have only recently looked into this story recently. Do you believe the allegations? Where is her missing child?

fAter reading a long and cold statement, Judge Richard M. Berman callously said to Dr. Aafia : “I wish you the best” as he pronounced a sentence of Eighty Six (86) Years in prison.

She would be eligible for release in the year 2094 at age 122 if she lives that long.

Dr. Aafia, who was calm throughout the proceedings, asked that no revenge or violence be done in her name and she specifically forgave Judge Berman while disagreeing with the trial and the charges and allegations against her. She also once again stated that she did not want the current legal team.  However, she did preserve her right to appeal by saying that she would appeal but through lawyers of HER choosing if the US system would allow her to find a lawyer and not impose one on her or have the Pakistani government impose lawyers.

At the end of the hearing, when asked by the judge if she wanted to voice any objections she simply stated that there were so many that “we would be here all day” and suggested that it would be a short list if he asked her about what she agreed with. With this she managed to bring smiles to all in the court including the security officers and US Marshalls on an otherwise very tense day.

Siddiqui urged her supporters to remain calm. “Don’t get angry,” she said. “Forgive Judge Berman.”

AFTER

Background & Facts

Background:

Dr. Aafia earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from MIT and earned her doctorate from Brandeis University.
Her doctoral thesis was “Learning through Imitation” in which she included her research on improving learning techniques for children.
She was totally dedicated to her children and her academic studies revolved around how children learn.
Unfortunately, Dr. Aafia became a victim of domestic violence during her marriage.
In 2002, Dr. Aafia’s husband moved the family to Pakistan and soon divorced her while she was pregnant with the couple’s third child. He remarried within weeks of giving her the divorce.
Dr. Aafia is now 38 years old, a mother of three children (2 are US citizens), divorced, and is a Pakistani citizen.
Circumstances Surrounding the Case:

Briefly, here are some of the basic circumstances of Dr. Aafia’s case:
In March 2003, Dr. Aafia and her three children, Ahmad (boy), six years old and an American citizen, Maryum (girl), four years old and also an American citizen, and Suleman (boy), six months old, kidnapped by unknown authorities in Karachi, Pakistan.
On March 31, 2003 it was reported by the Pakistani media that Dr. Aafia had been arrested and turned over to representatives of the United States. In early April, this was confirmed on NBC Nightly News, among other media outlets.
There was communication to the mother of Dr. Aafia from purported “agencies” that the family members should be quiet if they want to see Aafia returned alive.
By the year 2008, many believed that after five years of being disappeared Dr. Aafia and her three children were most likely dead.
Then, in July of 2008, the same month Dr. Aafia “appeared” in Ghazni, two events occurred:
British human-rights reporter, Yvonne Ridley and former Bagram detainee and British citizen, Moazem Begg, publicly spoke about a woman in Bagram screaming, a woman whom they named the “Grey Lady of Bagram”
A petition for habeas corpus was filed with the Pakistan High Court in Islamabad requesting that the court order the Pakistani government to free Dr. Aafia or to even admit that they were then detaining her.

What Supporters and Family Believe?:

This is what the family and many other supporters in the US and in Pakistan believe:
That Dr. Aafia was (and is) an innocent person who was abducted for money or based on false allegations or false conclusions derived from an unknown source.
That, unfortunately, all evidence required for her defense and establishing legal proof of her detention would require full cooperation by the U.S. and Pakistani governments, and intelligence agencies, a cooperation that seems impossible.
That documents incriminating Dr. Aafia are either false documents or produced under torture or threat of harm to her children.
That the Afghan police were looking for Dr. Aafia and her son based on a description given by an anonymous tip on the day she was detained in Ghazni.
That had Dr. Aafia and her son been shot on sight on suspicion of being suicide bombers, this would have led to a convenient closure of the case of Aafia Siddiqui at a time when a petition for habeas corpus was pending in the High Court of Pakistan in Islamabad. Note that this court had been asked to order then-President Musharraf and the Pakistani government (which would include anyone working with them) to release her or to reveal her whereabouts.
That Dr. Aafia, who spoke no local language in Ghazni, was dressed so conspicuously in a manner to be easily identified and shot on sight as a (falsely-accused) suicide bomber as a part of someone else’s plan.
The forensic and scientific evidence presented during the trial in New York proved that Dr. Aafia could not have committed the crimes for which she was charged, still the jury disregarded the evidence and chose to agree with the prosecution due to fear and prejudice.
What Dr. Aafia’s detractors want?:

We are asked to believe that Dr. Aafia, a respectable Pakistani woman in all ways, is now the first and only female terrorist from Pakistan; was voluntarily hiding under cover with three children acting as a terror field operative while at the same time leaving her family to believe for five years that she and her three children were dead.
We are asked to believe that Dr. Aafia arranged this just after her father died, after finding out her marriage was disintegrating, and after leaving her widowed mother alone in Pakistan. It is absolutely not plausible and does not even fit the traditional profile by law enforcement of female or male terrorists from that part of the world.
Current Situation:

In February, 2010, Dr. Aafia was tried and convicted in a US Federal court on charges of attempted murder and assaulting US servicemen in Ghazni, Afghanistan. The official charges against Dr. Aafia were that she assaulted U.S. soldiers in Ghazni, Afghanistan, with one of the servicemen’s own rifles, while she was in their custody, waiting to be interrogated by them. No US personnel were hurt but Dr. Aafia was shot and suffered serious injuries including brain damage. Dr Aafia categorically denies these charges.
There were NO terrorism charges against Dr. Aafia.
According to several legal observers, the trial of Dr. Aafia was littered with many inconsistencies and defects, chief among them being many rulings by the judge that strongly favored the prosecution and prejudiced the case against the defense. These ranged from allowing much hearsay evidence and jury instructions that favored the prosecution. In addition, Dr. Aafia was not represented by lawyers of her choosing and faced constant innuendos of terrorism when she was not charged with any such offense.
As a result of Judge Richard Berman’s framing of the case in a negative light, Dr Aafia was convicted despite ALL physical and forensic evidence that showed that she could not have committed the acts she was charged with.
Dr. Aafia remains imprisoned, now at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York where she is kept in solitary confinement in the Special housing unit (SHU) which is the most severe confinement category. She is not allowed communication with anyone she trusts, including family members.
She was sentenced by Judge Richard Berman to 86 years in prison on September 23, 2010 in New York in an unusually long hearing attended by hundreds of supporters.
Dr. Aafia’s Children:

Dr. Aafia’s oldest son, Ahmed, who is a U.S. citizen by birth, was found in Ghazni, Afghanistan after thinking he was an orphan and, in late 2008, was reunited with Dr. Aafia’s sister in Karachi, Pakistan.
Dr. Aafia’s daughter, Maryum, also a US citizen by birth, was mysteriously “dropped off” in April 2010 near her aunt’s house in Karachi after being missing for 7 years. She was traumatized and spoke only American accented English.
Dr. Aafia’s youngest child, Suleman, a boy who would now be about seven years old, remains missing; and is feared dead.

What Supporters and Family Seek?

Dr. Aafia, an MIT and Brandeis laureate, is now a broken and mere shell of her former self. Under these circumstances, family and supporters are asking the U.S. government to repatriate Dr. Aafia back to her home in Pakistan.
The Pakistani government has formally made this request as this matter has become a major public issue and has support across Pakistani political and social spectrums. Supporters and people of conscience should press government officials to get Dr. Aafia reunited with her family as soon as possible.
An independent, open (with full public access and disclosure) and serious investigation should be undertaken into what happened to Dr. Aafia over the missing years and the whereabouts of her remaining child, so that this does not happen to other innocents.
Dr Aafia’s family and supporters still have hope in fair minded peoples committed to mercy and justice to raise their voices. Justice for the past, for all Dr. Aafia has suffered, is hard to imagine.
All that is asked for the future is for some measure of correction. If Dr. Aafia is repatriated, perhaps she can pick up some fragments of life with her family.
Closing:

We ask people to look into this case themselves, and to do so with an open mind. There is a lot of information out there on the Internet, and in the media. Many of the stories demonize Aafia, while some raise her to sainthood. Aafia is neither demon nor saint. Aafia is simply an ordinary mother, daughter and sister trapped in an extraordinary nightmare.

source: freeaafia.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGwKCuma9ls

Aafia Siddiqui Case

Moazzam Begg speaks about Dr Aafia Siddiqui

Yvonne Ridley tells us about Dr. Aafia Siddiqui

Tags: #FreeAafia, Aafia Siddiqui, fauzia siddiqui