The curious case of Aafia Siddiqui
contribution by Shaaz Mahboob of British Muslims for Secular Democracy
The case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s involvement in terrorism and the alleged maltreatment at Bargam Airbase in Afghanistan has somewhat transformed into a cause célèbre amongst Muslim communities in particular British Muslims of Pakistani origin who share the same geographical and cultural origin with her.
Ironically, non-Pakistani Muslims, especially Arab Muslims do not appear to be much concerned about the alleged sole female Al Qaeda operative bearing in mind the roots of Al Qaeda run deep within Arab societies.
I too, was initially appalled at reading the plight of the short statured woman who was allegedly kept under illegal confinement in Afghanistan for over 5 years before finally being produced in a US court of law. To everyone’s relief, she was finally put on trial in New York on terrorism related charges, including one involving an attempted shooting of a US Army guard by his own M16 rifle. She has since then been found guilty of this charge.
The illegal abduction by intelligence agencies, allegations of rape and torture during her detention and the ordeal her three young children were put through, all need further investigation and those responsible brought before the law for scrutiny and as a deterrent in future potential cases.
There is an increasing media hype accompanying the increasing blind public support steered and spearheaded by hardline Islamists, supported by human rights groups and followed by the token support lent by the secular leaning Pakistani government for Dr Siddiqui.
Unsurprisingly in Britain, unconditional support for her has also been extended by British figures such as Lord Nazir Ahmed, and many other Muslim groups.
However, looking beyond the hype a different and alarming story attempts to break through. The steadfast mental barriers of anti-US-imperialism and pro-Jihadi tendencies with a not-so-subtle dash of anti-Semitism is not allowing the Muslim communities to even consider any alternatives to her innocence when forming their judgments about Dr Siddiqui, who has appears to have attained the status of Mata Hari and Joan of Arc of this century.
Curiosity about this case led me to news articles and other stories about Dr Siddiqui which has presented a rather disturbing set of facts. Muslims across the world and in particular those who are campaigning for her release including Lord Nazir Ahmed and human rights groups must also bear in mind the following facts:
1. She was married to a person who bought night-vision goggles and body armour worth $10,000 allegedly for “big game hunting†in Pakistan. He himself subsequently narrates Aafia’s violent personality, extremist views and concerns over her involvement in Jihadi activities.
2. Her second marriage a mere 6 months after her divorce, was to Ammar al-Baluchi, also known as Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali who happens to be the nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (the 9/11 Conspirator) and a cousin of Ramzi Yousef who was convicted of the 1993 WTC Bombing. Al-Baluchi will be put on trail in New York for his involvement in mass terrorism.
3. During her stay in the US, the charities she was involved with were subsequently linked to the 1998 US Embassy bombings such as the Mercy International Relief Agency (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/24/aafia-siddiqui-al-qaida). She herself ran an Islamic Charity called Islamic Research and Teaching from her flat. These activities gained her access to criminals in local prisons (http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/whos_afraid_of_aafia_siddiqui/)
4. During the jury selection process Dr Siddiqui insisted on having all the jury members “DNA tested†to ensure that there were no Jews on the jury bench. Her similar statements in court are equally anti-Semitic.
So many coincidences do point towards an alarming and questionable trend associated with the Aafia’s past and personality, which should not be easily ignored when lending her unconditional support.
Perhaps her zeal for religious piety prompted her to take ill-conceived steps in support of fellow Muslims across the world. Due course of law certainly do not appear to have been followed whilst apprehending and interrogating her.
Such flawed processes must immediately be rectified if moral high ground has to be retained by those who claim to uphold values such as democracy and freedom.
Nevertheless, the treatment she has received in the form of an open trial and access to lawyers is most certainly a thousand-fold more humane than that suffered by the victims of Al Qaeda and Taliban’s actions, which results not only in loss of life, amputated limbs but also shattered personalities left scarred for life.
It’s time for Muslims to review their loyalty towards anyone and everyone who takes the name of Islam and who appears to be a victim.
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Filed in: Current affairs,Islamists,Terrorism
Hi you might also consider the account of her ex-husband:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/24/aafia-siddiqui-al-qaida
This story (Amnesty has suspended the head of its gender unit for criticising their promotion of Moazzem Begg) is also relevant:
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2010/02/07/statement-by-gita-sahgal-on-amnesty-international-and-cageprisoners/
If the woman is guilty in a fair and proper trial fine.
However this case was far from being a fair trial it had so many flaws and contradictory witness statements i am not surprised human rights groups are outraged by the judgement and trial itself.
I don’t really see the point of the article it does not even scrutinize the case or evidence, instead goes off on a tangent blabbing on about alleged islamist links?
“However this case was far from being a fair trial it had so many flaws and contradictory witness statements i am not surprised human rights groups are outraged by the judgement and trial itself.”
Absolute rubbish. The trial was a perfectly ordinary trial. Like any criminal trial, a defence could be run, and the defence lawyers did their best. However, you can’t make bricks without straw. She was disbelieved, and convicted.
Given her behaviour at trial, I can only sympathise with her lawyers.
As for the supposed “evidence” that she was in Bagram…
As has been pointed out Aafia SIddiqui’s husband is adamant that she was ‘at large’ during the period that she was supposed to have been detained and tortured at Baghram.
Evidence was also given at her trial that is inconsistent with her detention in a ‘secret prison’:
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/mariner/20100203.html
Evidently, nobody told Aafia Siddiqui that she was supposed to be “The Grey Lady of Bagram”!!
So, why is it widely believed – despite all the evidence – that she was held at Bagram by the US for 5 years?
The answer, I believe, is that Yvonne Ridley (of PressTV and CagePrisoners) has been spreading this story:
“When Jamaat-e Islami invited me on a national tour of Pakistan to address people about the continued abuse of Dr. Aafia and the truth about her incarceration in Bagram….”
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=213934
Yup. It is the clerical fascists of Jamaat-e-Islami who have been funding the propagation of this lie.
post 4
a perfectly normal trial what?
What evidence convicted siddiqui? fbi investigators came up with 0 and best they had was hearsay.
As to whether she was in bagram or not your statement says she was interviewed by US agents in bagram so why contradict yourself?
post#4
“The trial was a perfectly ordinary trial” right says you.
Just small detail of evidence not really on the table i suppose that’s ok. With the fbi finding 0 evidence apart from bullets cases which where the ones that hit siddiqui.
So american agents interview siddiqui in murky old bagram but then you say she was’nt in bagram right your really full of contradictions i mean making sense now!
I don’t think that you can have experienced very many criminal trials.
The CagePrisoners campaign is transparent conspiracy mongering, backed by an extreme Right South Asian political party.
This conspiracy theory falls into the same category as 9/11 Troof, and the Jews who didn’t turn up at work. Indeed, Aafia Siddiqui shouted out crap about having evidence about terrorist plots against the US, but not involving jihadi groups.
They know their demographic well. You’re it.
Good piece.
All the evidence against this woman was circumstancial, it was a whitewash to cover up American crimes. The US has held and abused this woman, as well as her three children, two of whom are still missing.
When giving evidence the prosecution contradicted itself many times, witness reports didn’t match the official line etc.
I think it’s incredibly unfair that the trial and the details have not been reported in the western media, yet there are now plenty of articles trying to make people who stick up for her sound like Al Queda sympathisers etc.
Then you have the usual suspects (David T etc) who will say and do anything to play the Jew card and make Muslims look bad.
“play the Jew card”
wtf does that mean?
I’ve no idea if this lady is guilty or not. She sounds like a nasty piece of work but, hey, don’t we all?
However, I don’t really understand why the presumption is that the judicial system is biased against her. It’s at least as likely that the judicial system is giving her too much benefit of the doubt.
Terrorists are cunning and resourceful – they have to be to survive. Senior IRA terrorists were not above taking the piss out of a democracy’s legal system: guilty as sin but never leaving enough admissible evidence to be convicted. And the Talibs/AQ weren’t born yesterday either. Remember the case of Dr Faisal Mostafa?
http://www.pickledpolitics.com/archives/3910
All the evidence against this woman was circumstancial, it was a whitewash to cover up American crimes. The US has held and abused this woman, as well as her three children, two of whom are still missing.
Also:
1. Two aeroplanes with full fuel tanks could NOT bring down the WTC!!!!
http://www.911truth.org/
2. The US never landed on the MOON!!!!!!!! Look at the flag fluttering!!!!!
http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html
3. But thereis a Lancaster Bomber on the Moon!!!!!
http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s1i275
4. The Holy Grail is REALLY the SANG REAL!!!! ie the MERIGOVINIAN MONARCHY!!!!!!
http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/thedavincicode/
5. Paul McCartney is DEAD (he was replaced with a lookalike)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_is_dead
Look – she told her captors that she had been on the run. Her ex-husband said that she had been on the run. I would guess that her kids are with her family.
What is clear is that she didn’t know that she was supposed to have been in Bagram when she was captured. This will make no difference at all to kooky conspiracy theorists, however.
it might mean this:
i mean, i wouldn’t want to accuse anyone of jew-hatred, would i?
b’shalom
bananabrain
Sounds like platinum786 thinks that a good idea!
I think it’s incredibly unfair that the trial and the details have not been reported in the western media, yet there are now plenty of articles trying to make people who stick up for her sound like Al Queda sympathisers etc.
The people who “stick up for her” are, in fact, Al Qaeda sympathisers, or at the very least Abdullah Azzam-ites.
The groups which support her are jihadist groups. They typically have followed the likes of Anwar Al Awlaki, who is Al Qaeda. Go on – check. You’ll see I’m right.
I know that there’s a tendency to blame Jews for everything that goes wrong. But Jews have absolutely nothing to do with this at all.
Can you please take some responsibility for your own politics?
When Aafia Siddiqui does disgusting things like this…..
…..she “makes Muslims look bad” all by herself.
Fortunately, there are people around who don’t believe in the concept of “collective guilt” and tarring people with the same brush, whether the latter are Muslims or from any other background. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of nasty people around who take the opposite view. Like individuals such as Anjem Choudary, Omar Bakri, and OBL himself, Aafia Siddiqui isn’t exactly an asset to Muslims, and if you’re looking to blame someone for “making Muslims look bad”, the blame lies with Siddiqui first and foremost.
This court case is a load of bull, woman is shot twice then tortured in chambers of bagram and then flown in on another rendition flight no doubt and put in front of an american court. Jury which has been fed everyday fox news headlines “lady al qaida” then convicts her without even seeing 1 dot of evidence my my what a great justice system NOT!
@Joe,
What else happened in the courtroom? Since it appears you were there througout the trial?
“she “makes Muslims look bad†all by herself.”
No she doesn’t.
She makes fugitive Al Qaeda supporters, and their enablers, look bad.
Some of us are able to distinguish between the two.
What Aafia said during and after her trial i.e. Jews being the source of all evils and the verdict was an Israeli verdict and not American, is consistent with much that is being said and believed throughout the Muslim world.
In Pakistan, suicide bombings are constantly being blamed on Mossad (as well as CIA/Blackwater/RAW) with people in denial about the threat posed by Taliban, Jamat-e-Islami, Imran Khan and the likes of their patrons, Nawaz Sharif.
During the Bird Flu crises, there were banners displayed above Poultry stalls in Karachi, with the message “Bird Flu is nothing but a Jewish conspiracy, our birds are good to eat”
Until and unless we start sorting out the black sheep and cows from the rest of the sane minded amongst Muslim communities, these blame labels will achieve nothing but further chaos and destruction.
Time to wake up and look at events objectively.
So she holds anti semetic opinions, as far as I know that’s not a crime in Britain (where we are sat), America (where she was tried) or Pakistan (where she is from). That doesn’t make you a terrorist, at worst it makes you an anti-semite, most probably your just a person who beleives in a conspiracy theory.
Shaaz, there is endless evidence of terrorism in Pakistan particularly in Balouchistan being supported by RAW. There are many accounts of Blackwater operatives working in Pakistan, the security agency working as a Pakistani cover for them is being torn apart by the courts, we all know blackwater is a tool of the CIA. It is not inconvievable that the USA is also supportive of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, afterall, as long as Pakistan is involved in the war it can’t back out. the USA has done this kind of stuff around the world using the CIA, why is it so inconcievable this time? Because they don’t admit to their actions? They never admitted to their actions in central and southern America or their actions in Afghanistan against the soviets either.
Just because the white man and his media won’t tell me there is a problem, doesn’t mean i don’t see a problem. The entire situation is contradictory. One the one hand you claim the Pakistani state support and harbour the terrorists, yet at the same time the same terrorists are attacking them are they?!
Does it mean the terrorist action carried out in Pakistan is state sponsored, maybe, maybe not, but there is certainly mean and motive for it to be, and there is evidence physical evidence pointing that way so the theories cannot be written off.
Why is Rehman Malik denying the presence of Blackwater in Pakistan when even the americans don’t deny it anymore.
Too many questions, too many lies, not enough answers.
Like, for example, the evidence that Paul McCartney is dead, and was replaced by a lookalike.
Open your eyes! The evidence is there!!
Unfortunately a lot of people are not, as per my final paragraph in #15.
Innit!
“the white man and his media”
love it
Good old Plats, he can’t keep his true nature hidden for long.
@shaaz
your last comment is nice joke, Pity you don’t listen to your own advice.
So being kidnapped along with her children taken to bagram tortured held for several years, shot twice, hidden from the world whereabouts unknown then she appears like magic in an american court and you tell us “look at events objectively”.
after all that is your claim to fame? she shouts its the jews/mossad wow don’t give up your day job.
What would your state of mind be if you had a nice 4 year holday in bagram or guantanamo bay courtesy of the US administration shady mahboob?
These facts are not from any independent intelligence or news agency but they are from the inner sources of USA.
No one can claim that these facts are True.
I say that after 9/11 american deligations cam ePakistan and showed their proves to President Musharraf and he admitted that the proves are reliable and acceptable then he decided to join American Allience. but after many years President Bush, Tony Blaire, Coln Powel r. Field etc accepted that they had not got proves enough to claim that Al-Qaida or Taliban or Both were involved in 9/11 attacks while many observers and research Institutions proved that it was a game which planned by inner fectors of USA adn till today a lot of proves and solid points come anti-american claim agianst Al-Qaida and Taliban’s involvement in 9/11 so the facts which are presented in this sheet are not so reliable as you presented here..
I think we all muslim should accept that this is cruelity and anti-human rights.
this voice is not only of muslims but also those who are not muslim..
Sir ! open your eyes and come out from the propagenda which is run against muslims by Jewish lobbies arround the world..
“AAFIA! TU AABRU – E – MILLAT – E – MERHOOM HAY
ZARRA ZARRA TERI MUSHT-E-KHAAK KA MASOOM HAY”
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.
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AAFIA ! YOU ARE MY SISTER IN ISLAM.
AAFIA ! I SALUTE YOU.
Mr Shaaz Mahboob !
Nice to see that You interest in current affairs adn I realy appreciate those who are so caring for the World as you are. it may be we have different opinions but in respectf o knowledge I salute you for what you have contributed..
I want You study the history of the Jews and their conspiracies. they are so much cruel , wicked and devilish that ALLAH warned Muslims to be carefull from jews’ conspiracies in his Holly book “The Holly Quran”.
The jews killed innocent prophets adn even the hangged The Holly Jesus only for their economical and financial benefits. if they had no mercy on innocent Prophets of God so how it can be accpted that they are realy to serve humanity?? they are real terrorists in the World only.
they created a storm with tittle of “Y2K” and it was nothing but to fear the people/ Got/s and institutions then they presenetd many many solutions to earn money so it was only to fear for finance. it comes in account of Financial Terrorism. I can put Dozens of such examples…
So if Aafia can be accused such false and self created proves so on the real facts of history people caculate the points and say that “Bird Flu, Anthrix, Aids,etc” are created by Jews adn Jewish agnets who are working globally.
Yes it is that Jews are such a community who spread virus to sell Anti-Virus products..
.
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May Allah Grant us eyes which can let us see in right direction Because if eyes are not straight so The Straight Way can not be seen.
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Thank YOU
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Yours sicnerely:
Saif
(saif_pak@hotmail.com)
>>sorry for any typo error.
Just for the record not everyone who supports Aafia and believes that she has been terribly mistreated is a jihadi or even a muslim, there are many others,jews,hindus, christians or even godless kaffirs like myself who are appalled at the human carnage that has been created in the name of the global war on terror by the our so called western civilization (barbarism) in the pursuit of our global objectives.
Aafia is just one of the many victims of GWOT, these confused, broken and often duped and misguided people who are regularly paraded in political show trials so that the masses can be provided with a tangible enemy so that we will continue to support our government’s overseas military occupations.
When I first heard about the story of Aafia i felt compelled to write about this travesty, she has been missing for 5 years and was believed to have been in one of our many black prisons along with her children two of whom are still unaccounted for and then suddenly she appears in a confused state along with her eldest child in a public place in Ghazni carrying lots of useless but incriminating evidence.
Then after Aafia was captured by Afghani police and is due to be interrogated by US security, this weak and extremely ill woman who they claim is a top Al Qaeda agent allegedly seizes a rifle from US guards and attacks them with it, this is the stuff of fantasy.
I followed the events of the trial and the background as reported by Petra Bartosiewicz on her blog http://www.petrabart.com/.
If you believe that she had a fair trial then I challenge you to read the reports from Petra and to listen to the full report of the case on Democracy Now!
The Bizarre Terror Conviction of Pakistani Scientist Aafia Siddiqui, And Why There’s a Good Chance She’s Innocent was reported on Democracy Now TV/Radio by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez and listen to the cries of the dissenting juror who was bullied and railroaded against her conscience into finding Aafia guilty.
This whole War on Terror is a travesty and anyone in their right mind should be outraged by what is being done in our name …
well obviously you shouldn’t root for someone on the basis they’re muslim. what i imagine a lot of people are concerned about is the rights of any person to know what they are accused of, have a fair trial and not face torture etc. on the way to the aforementioned fair trial.
and unbiased evidence would be useful. i can’t see why
evidence (which cannot be corroborated by other sources) from husbands and ex-husbands is even being taken seriously -should we assume any of that is not biased?
a bit of due process, that’s all we can aim for and work towards. and in the same way people shouldn’t be biased towards their same religious group, having dodgy husbands and being anti-semitic isn’t as as far as i can see doesn’t equate to being a terrorist oneself. obviously if you are fighting a war on terror, you might be seeing terrorists wherever you look.
if we want to catch real terrorists, i’m sure the intelligence is out there
If she had been allowed to choose her own lawyers, time to prepare a case with them, perhaps she could have had a fair trial, or at least have been seen to have had one.
Sadly she was not. Instead we have the sight of a woman who has been “disappeared” for 5 years, traumatised by being separated from her children some of whom she believes have been killed, in front of a court she has no confidence in, represented by lawyers she hasn’t appointed, on a charge which isn’t related to terrorism, as this article tries to suggest, but to shooting at at an army captain in an interrogation centre where she was being held using a gun left by one of the officers there.
All the stuff about her being filled with hatred to Jews, and America and so on, while I believe are true, seem to me partly beside the point: she is not being charged with a thought crime, nor even terrorism. She is charged with shooting someone who – in effect – has unlawfully kidnapped her.
If her political views are considered relevant context, then – perhaps – we should also take in the context of her kidnapping and suggested mistreatment during that time as relevant context too.
So, let’s see how Shaaz, your logic works in this article:
1) Aafia married the wrong people
2) Aafia was associated with really “bad guys”
3) Aafia doesn’t like Jews… heck, she didn’t even want one on her jury.
Conclusion: she is guilty of the crime she was charged-with – attempted murder.
And with great pains you admitted that she STILL deserved due process. But alas, an open trial, even if completely bullocks, and constant humiliation (not forgetting the torture) is better than what Al-Qaeda would have given her. So, since our standard is Al-Qaeda, we should be happy that she got USA instead.
Wow, Shaaz, you should join British Intelligence. They could use someone like you… can’t get any worse after their pimping of Iraq’s “nuclear capabilities”.
On a serious note, it is a shame that people like you, who claim to promote “secular democracy” are so engrossed in trying to please the official boys that you don’t even take the time to actually look into the case. Did you actually do any research? Did you actually take the time to look at the legal issues in the case? Did you actually recognize that your bullet points had absolutely nothing to do with what she was on trial for?
Jew-bashing is unacceptable as is Islamophobia. I have openly slammed other commentators when they engage it on my site, including deleting such comments. But someone’s antisemitism (perceived or real) isn’t sufficient to logically lead into murderous behavior. I mean look at the Islamophobes around us… they say far worse about Islam and Muslims with total impunity. If you replaced the word Muslim with Jews, half of them would probably be destroyed (socially, career-wise, jailed, etc.) for antisemitic behavior. And to be honest, they should, but so should the Islamophobes.
Not every person who supports one of the great many victims of the “war on terror” supports the terrorist; in fact the majority don’t support terrorists.
In conclusion, Shaaz, this piece is disappointing. It is simply an attempt to distance yourself away from other Muslims (not to forget the non-Muslim human rights activists) who believe in the sister SIMPLY for the sake of distancing, rather than any tangible reason. You have done a great disservice to a mother of 3 children, 2 of whose whereabouts is unknown. Are you parent? Put yourself in her position and then tell me how sane you would be on docket?
-amad