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Aafia Siddiqui

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Aafia Siddiqui
ArrestedMarch 2003
Karachi
Detained at suspected of being held in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility
Charge(s)assaulting and attempting to kill US personnel
Occupationneuroscientist
Spouse'Ammar al-Baluchi (a pseudonym)
Children(3, the youngest born c. 2001, the oldest c. 1991)

Aafia Siddiqui (Template:Lang-ar) (DOB used: March 2, 1972) is a MIT and Brandeis alumna, originally from Pakistan. In 2004, she was identified by the United States Government as being "associated with al-Qaeda." In March 2003, Siddiqui went missing along with her three children. In August 2008, she was charged in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York with assaulting and attempting to kill US personnel while in detention in Afghanistan. The fate of her children remains unknown. Her ex-husband, anesthesiologist Mohammed Khan, is now working as a physician at a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Khan and Siddiqui are divorced following vehement disagreements over how their three children should be educated. Siddiqui wanted the children to be educated in the West and to live in America. Khan wanted the children to be educated in Pakistan under strict Muslim supervision. Khan's family lives in a wealthy compound in Karachi.

Early life and education

Aafia Siddiqui was born in Pakistan in March 1972. She came to the United States, and attended colleges in the Boston, Massachusetts area. As a sophomore at MIT in 1992, Siddiqui received a Carroll L. Wilson Award for her research proposal, "Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women." As a junior, Siddiqui received a $1,200 fellowship through MIT's LINKS program to help clean up Cambridge elementary school playgrounds. During her undergraduate career, she lived in McCormick Hall and worked at the MIT libraries. She graduated from MIT in 1995.

In 1996, a year after she graduated, she wrote an article for the MIT Information Systems newsletter about how to download computer programs using the File Transfer Protocol and the then-emerging World Wide Web.

She subsequently went on to graduate study in neuroscience at Brandeis University receiving the Ph.D. degree in 2001 for her dissertation, entitled "Separating the Components of Imitation." In 1999, while living in Boston, she and Khan founded the nonprofit Institute of Islamic Research and Teaching

2001 money trail

Siddiqui was an account holder at Fleet National Bank in Boston. According to documents obtained by Newsweek, in 2001, Siddiqui was making regular debit-card payments to an Islamic charity front, Benevolence International, which is now banned by the UN. In addition, Siddiqui was found to be active with the Al Kifah Refugee Center, another Islamic charity that was ostensibly raising funds for Bosnian orphans but which also was under federal investigation. Fleet Bank security officers began tracking a money trail from the Saudi Embassy that led to Siddiqui, resulting in more "links" that "shocked" the bank security officers, according to an investigative report in Newsweek that incorrectly identifies Siddiqui as a microbiologist.[1]

The Boston Herald reported March 23, 2003 that until August 2001, she lived in a Mission Hill neighborhood high-rise apartment building in Boston that was frequented by Saudi nationals. Siddiqui's specific address in the building was identified as apartment number 2008. Another Fleet Bank customer, Hatem Al Dhahri, also listed his address as number 2008 in that same building. Al Dhahri and Siddiqui's accounts were both active and current in the fall of 2001, but it is unknown whether they shared the apartment at the same time. A Saudi Embassy spokesman said that Al Dhahri has been interrogated by the FBI and has denied any knowledge of Siddiqui.

Subsequent to the Fleet National Bank investigation, Aafia Siddiqui's husband was found to be purchasing high-tech military equipment. According to Newsweek, FBI documents also stated that Khan, Siddiqui’s husband, had purchased body armor, night-vision goggles and a variety of military manuals that were supposed to be sent to Pakistan. Fleet National Bank accounts associated with the couple also showed "major purchases" from U.S. airlines and hotels in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and North Carolina as well as an $8,000 international wire transfer on December 21, 2001, to Habib Bank, a big Pakistani financial institution that has long been scrutinized by U.S. intelligence officials monitoring terrorist money flows.

Newsweek reported that Fleet National Bank investigators discovered that one account used by the Boston-area couple showed repeated debit-card purchases from stores that "specialize in high-tech military equipment and apparel", including Black Hawk Industries in Chesapeake, Virginia, and Brigade Quartermasters in Georgia. (Black Hawk's website advertises grips, mounts and parts for AK-47s and other military-assault rifles as well as highly specialized combat clothing, including vests designed for bomb disposal.)

The Fleet National Bank reports detailing all the transactions were filed with the U.S. Treasury Department, and suggest that Siddiqui and her estranged husband, Dr. Mohammed Amjad Khan, may have been active terror plotters inside the country until as late as the summer of 2002.

Allegations from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence asserts that Siddiqui has ties to Guantanamo captive Ammar al-Baluchi.[2]

In 2002, 'Ammar directed Aafia Siddiqui--a US-educated neuroscientist and al-Qa'ida facilitator--to travel to the United States to prepare paperwork to ease Majid Khan's deployment to the United Staes. 'Ammar married Siddiqui shortly before his detention.

Al-Baluchi is now held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.

Disappearance and alleged al-Qaeda ties

On March 1, 2003, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, one of the original 22 FBI Most Wanted Terrorists, was captured in Pakistan. Siddiqui may have drawn the FBI's attention when she was named by the captured senior al-Qaida operative, as CNN reported on April 3, 2003. According to Newsweek, FBI Agents also found evidence that she had rented a post-office box to help another Baltimore, Maryland-based individual alleged to have been an al-Qaeda contact who had been assigned by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to blow up underground gasoline-storage tanks.

At that time, the Boston Herald also reported her being linked to alleged terrorist Adnan El Shukrijumah, "whose name surfaced among the belongings of" Mohammed. In any case, she attracted international attention at that time as the first woman to be sought by the FBI in connection with its pursuit of al-Qaeda.

On March 29, 2003 United Press International reported that the FBI purportedly believed Siddiqui may be a "fixer" for al-Qaeda, moving money to support terrorist operations.

Siddiqui's uncle claimed in the spring of 2003 that she had been detained in Pakistan[3] and was being questioned by or for the FBI, which was denied by the FBI. The lead FBI investigating office in Boston also stated that as far as the FBI was aware, Siddiqui was not arrested by any other nation either. On 28 February 2007 Human Rights Watch said that Siddiqui "may have once been held" in secret detention by the CIA.[4]

The family of Aafia Siddqiui asked attorney Elaine Whitfield Sharp of Marblehead, Massachusetts, to serve as their spokeswoman in the media.

Summer 2004 terror alert

Leading up to the summer of 2004, several scheduled high-profile national events had become widely predicted as likely targets for a potential major upcoming terror attack. One of the first among them was the 2004 Democratic National Convention, scheduled for Boston, July 26 through July 29, 2004.[5] Aafia Siddiqui had lengthy ties to the Boston area, and that connection may have been what brought her to the forefront of the FBI's attention a year after her disappearance from the area.

On May 26, 2004, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that reports indicated that al-Qaeda planned to attempt an attack on the United States that summer or fall. In addition, Director Mueller named Aafia Siddiqui as "an al-Qaeda operative and facilitator", and as one of seven al-Qaeda associates who were being sought in connection with the possible terrorist threats in the United States, though they did not have any reason at that time to believe that the seven were working in concert. Ashcroft went on to say of the seven that they all posed "a clear and present danger to America, and should all be considered armed and dangerous." The other alleged terrorists named on that date were Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Amer El-Maati, Adam Yahiye Gadahn, Abderraouf Jdey, and Adnan G. El Shukrijumah. The first two had been listed as FBI Most Wanted Terrorists since 2001, indicted for their roles in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. Jdey was already on the FBI's "Seeking Information" wanted list since January 17, 2002, to which Siddiqui and the other three were added as well.[6]

Despite the more serious allegations made by the Director on May 26, 2004 about Aafia Siddiqui, her FBI Seeking Information Alert continues to merely state that "Although the FBI has no information indicating this individual is connected to specific terrorist activities, the FBI would like to locate and question this individual." In contrast, the other four alleged al-Qaeda associates who had been named along with Siddiqui by the FBI Director on that day are all "being sought in connection with possible terrorist threats against the United States", according to the specific text in their Seeking Information Alerts.

In the press conference, the Director further emphasized that "Each of these seven individuals is known to have a desire and the ability to undertake planning, facilitation and attack against the United States whether it be within the United States itself or overseas." However, no Justice Department explanation has been given for why Siddiqui remains listed as "wanted for questioning" — not for terrorist activities -- (That terrorist action never occurred; Nor was a credible threat of such ever made public.) The announcement sparked fear that the face of terrorism was changing, i.e., that women and children were traveling incognito to accomplish terrorist goals.

Allegations of handling conflict diamonds for al-Qaeda

Following the capture of A. K. Ghailani on 25 July 2004, several press reports, claiming UN and other sources, described the participation of several al-Qaeda personnel, including Siddiqui, in the acquisition and movement of diamonds in Liberia.[7][8][9] The Boston Globe reported that Siddiqui had stayed in Monrovia for one week at the invitation of Charles Taylor's regime, to compile a report for her superiors in Pakistan on the state of al-Qaeda's gem business. Siddiqui has not been formally charged for handling diamonds for al-Qaeda

The "gray lady of Bagram"

On July 7 2008 the Daily Times of Pakistan quoted British journalist Yvonne Ridley that a Pakistani woman had been held in solitary confinement, for years, in the Bagram Theater internment facility.[10][11] Her identity remains unconfirmed. She has been nicknamed the "gray lady of Bagram". However Ridley speculates that she is Aafia Siddiqui.

Moazzam Begg and several other former captives have reported that a female prisoner, prisoner 650, was held in Bagram.[11] According to The Daily Times and Adnkronos news service the former captives report she has lost her sanity, and cries all the time.

Iqbal Jaafree, a Pakistani lawyer, petitioned a Pakistani court for a hearing to determine Siddiqui's location.[12][13]

Second capture

Shorty after press rumors suggested that Siddiqui had been in Bagram for the last five years, the US government arrested Aafia Siddiqui on charges related to her attempted murder and assault of United States officers and employees in Afghanistan.

The US claims that Siddiqui was not captured in March 2003, that she was arrested on July 17 2008 outside the home of the Governor of Ghazni.[14][15] The US account of the July 18 2008 shooting is that FBI agents, interpreters, and several GIs entered the room where Aafia Siddiqui was supposed to be only to find she wasn't there.[16] According to the US account when they didn't find Siddiqui there, the GIs didn't search for her -- they set down their weapons -- whereupon Siddiqui burst from behind a curtain, grabbed an M-4, and opened fire. One interpreter who was accompanying the officers seized the firearm from her. Another heard her say, "Allah akbar!...Get the f*** out of here!" US officials claim they have no idea where Siddiqui has been in the five years since she was captured on March 17 2003.

Siddiqui arrived in New York on August 4, 2008, and was presented before a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Siddiqui refused to accept the charges.[17][18][19] Siddiqui's lawyer stated that no one can believe the FBI story and that Siddiqui had actually been captured in Karachi, Pakistan along with three of her children.

Huma Yusuf, writing in Pakistan's International News, argued that Siddiqui's reappearance highlights the importance for the restoration of the Judges President Musharref had controversially fired in 2007.[20] Prior to their dismissal and house arrest the Supreme Court of Pakistan was conducting inquiries into the extrajudicial detention and disappearance of over 500 Pakistanis, including Siddiqui.

On August 8 2008 the Daily Times reported that Aafia was captured in Ghazni with her eldest son, Muhammad Ahmed.[21] The report stated that documents existed that confirmed that Affia and her children had been captured in March 2003.

Sources close to the matter claimed the Interior Ministry asked the provincial home departments for detailed reports on missing persons a couple of weeks ago, and that the list prepared by the Sindh Home Department included Dr Siddiqui and her three children, Maryam, Ahmed and Suleman. The report confirmed MI detained Dr Siddiqui and her three children in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on March 30, 2003, later handing her over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Location of Aafia's children

After Aafia re-emerged the current location of Siddiqui's three children, who were with her in the cab where she was believed to have first been apprehended, in 2003, was the subject of speculation.[22][23] Because her children were born while she was a US resident they are American citizens.[24]

On August 9 2008 her sister Fauzia Siddiqui said that the family had been receiving assurances, from the Pakistani Government authorities, that Aafia and her children were healthy, during the five years her location was unknown.[25]

“The government had been in contact with us during the last five years and has been saying that Dr Aafia would be back in a few days. Now we have been told that all the three children were fine but looking at Aafia’s condition we fear that the children might be in danger.”

Medical condition

The News of Pakistan reports that Siddiqui's health is very frail, over and above her recent gun-shot wound.[24] The report quoted concerns of the Co-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Iqbal Haider, who felt the images of Siddiqui showing that her health was been so badly damaged her life was in imminent risk. The report stated that:

  • one of her kidneys had been removed while in captivity;
  • her teeth had been removed;
  • her nose had been broken, and improperly reset;
  • that her recent gun-shot wound had been incompetently dressed, was oozing blood, leaving her clothes soaked with blood.

An August 11 2008 Reuters report stated that she had appeared at her hearing in a wheelchair, and that her lawyers pleaded with the judge to make sure she received medical care.[26] Reuters reports that Elizabeth Fink, one of her lawyers, told the Judge:

"She has been here, judge, for one week and she has not seen a doctor, even though they (U.S. authorities) know she has been shot."

The Reuters report stated that Aafia believed she had lost part of her intestines.[26] Her lawyers told the judge they believed she was still suffering from internal bleeding. According to Reuters:

Lawyers for Siddiqui said last week she appeared confused and did not know where she had been, except to claim that she was held captive by unknown authorities in a small room.

Christopher LaVigne, one of the Prosecutors, justified withholding medical care because she was a "high-security risk".[26] The Prosecution was ordered to make sure she was seen by a doctor within 24 hours by Judge Robert Pitman.

Consular access

Aafia received consular access on August 9 2008.[27][9][28] She is reported to have declined to have said where she had been in the five years since she disappeared in March 2003.

Bounty

Reports emerged that Iqbal Jafferi filed a petition before the Islamabad High Court, which asserted that Aafia had ended up in US custody through a US bounty payment to Bilal Musharraf, the son of President Musharraf.[25]

References

  1. ^ Terror Watch:Tangled Ties, MSNBC, Newsweek, April 7, 2004, Column/Terror Watch, Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
  2. ^ "Biographies of 14 Guantanamo Bay suspects" (PDF). Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Retrieved 2008-07-29. mirror
  3. ^ Dr Aafia Siddiqui's disappearance, a plea from her uncle, 2004/05/02
  4. ^ Ghost Prisoner, Human Rights Watch, February 2007
  5. ^ Democratic Convention Guide Boston 2004, 2003, Boston Web Hosts
  6. ^ Transcript: Ashcroft, Mueller news conference, CNN.com, Wednesday, May 26, 2004 Posted: 8:19 p.m. EDT (0019 GMT)
  7. ^ Bryan Bender (2004-08-04). "Liberia's Taylor gave aid to Qaeda, UN probe finds". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-08-09. mirror
  8. ^ "Aafia Siddiqui bought diamonds for Qaeda". Daily Times. 2004-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-04. mirror
  9. ^ a b Khalid Hasan (2008-08-09). "Did Aafia Siddiqui smuggle gems for Al Qaeda?". Daily Times. Retrieved 2008-08-09. mirror Cite error: The named reference "DailyTimes20080809" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. ^ Muhammad Bilal (2008-07-07). "Pakistani woman detained at Bagram airbase". Daily Times (Pakistan). Retrieved 2008-07-14. mirror
  11. ^ a b Syed Saleem Shahzad (2008-07-29). "Pakistan: 'Al-Qaeda' woman in Afghan prison, claims activist". Adnkronos. Retrieved 2008-07-29. She left her home to go to the airport from her Karachi residence," he told AKI. "It appears that she was picked up somewhere going to the airport. I tried to contact her mother but she refused to talk and later she also disappeared. Siddiqui disappeared with her three children. Neither her or her children's whereabouts have been known for the last five years. mirror
  12. ^ "Alleged detention of Pakistani woman at US base challenged in Court". 2008-07-29. Retrieved 2008-07-29. mirror
  13. ^ "Woman suspect 'held at US base'". Gulf Times. 2008-07-30. Retrieved 2008-07-30. mirror
  14. ^ "http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.boston.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fbreaking_news%2F2008%2F08%2Farraignment_tod.html&date=2008-08-07". Boston Globe. 2008-08-05. Retrieved 2008-08-07. Aafia Siddiqui allegedly yelled "Allahu akbar" and grabbed a soldier's rifle and fired two shots before she was shot herself in the July 18 incident. {{cite news}}: External link in |title= (help) mirror
  15. ^ Masood Haider (2008-08-07). "Aafia Siddiqui appears in US court, denied bail". Dawn (newspaper). Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  16. ^ John A. Hawkinson (2008-08-08). "Missing '95 Alumna Arrested in Afghanistan". MIT. Retrieved 2008-08-04. mirror
  17. ^ "'Al-Qaeda' woman appears in court". BBC News. 2008-08-05. Retrieved 2008-08-06. Rights groups say she has spent the last five years in secret US jails. mirror
  18. ^ Syed Shoaib Hasan (2008-08-06). "Mystery of Siddiqui disappearance". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-08-06. mirror
  19. ^ حسن مجتبیٰ (2008-08-06). "ڈاکٹر عافیہ کا الزامات سے انکار". BBC Urdu Service. Retrieved 2008-08-06. mirror
  20. ^ Huma Yusuf (2008-08-07). "Why Aafia matters". The International News. Most importantly, news of Aafia's court appearance should provoke Pakistanis into demanding (with renewed fervour) that judges be restored to their posts immediately. mirror
  21. ^ Faraz Khan (2008-08-08). "'MI handed Dr Aafia over to US'". Daily Times (Pakistan). Retrieved 2008-08-09. mirror
  22. ^ "Release her children at least". The International News. 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-08-07. I don't know if Dr Siddiqui has done anything illegal or not but the way she has been picked and handed over to US authorities along with three innocent children is a violation of basic human rights and human dignity. What happened to moral values, respect for law and human rights? If she has done something wrong, she should have been held accountable in the court of law and punished. But why detain her illegally, along with three children, without any charge whatsoever for five years? mirror
  23. ^ "Let this mom go!". Daily Mail. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-04. mirror
  24. ^ a b "HRCP appalled over Siddiqui treatment". The International News. 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-08-07. It is a picture of a severely dehydrated, sick person almost as if on the death bed. It shows the inhumane brutality of an apparently civilised nation by the administration of a country which claims to be much civilised. mirror
  25. ^ a b Usman Manzoor (2008-08-09). "Musharraf's son accused of pocketing bounty for Dr Aafia". The News (Pakistan). Retrieved 2008-08-09. mirror
  26. ^ a b c Christine Kearney (2008-08-11). "Pakistani accused of US troop attack to get doctor". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-08-11. [1]
  27. ^ "Pak diplomat meets Aafia Siddiqui". The Nation (Pakistan). 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-09. A senior Pakistani Embassy diplomat, who met with Aafia Siddqui in the Brooklyn detention center on Saturday, assured her that the embassy would make all possible efforts to ensure that her rights as an under-trial prisoner were respected. mirror
  28. ^ "US gives Pakistan consular access to Aafia Siddiqui". Associated Press of Pakistan. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-09. mirror
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