Abstract

This publication presents the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and the details that surround her incarceration. This publication comes to the conclusion that Aafia Siddiqui was wrongfully imprisoned due to America’s “War on Terror”.

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui started out as an exchange student and became a mother in the US. Siddiqui and her family were repeatedly questioned by the FBI in the wake of 9/11. After her divorce, the death of her father, and the ending of her educational visa, she returned to Pakistan and was abducted. The US gave her the distinction of a terrorist soon after. Media outlets called Dr. Aafia “Lady Al-Qaeda” following the American government’s claims that she was tied to terrorist groups.

Activists pressured the United States to give details on Aafia’s whereabouts, due to a rumor that Aafia was held in a US prison in Afghanistan. Soon after a press conference with journalists and Pakistani politicians, Dr. Aafia suddenly reappeared, in Ghazni, Afghanistan. Aafia was shot in the stomach by US forces after being arrested and detained in an Afghan government compound.

Dr. Aafia stood trial in 2010, charged with attacking American soldiers. She was sentenced to 86 years in the FMC Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas where she is now imprisoned.

This publication owes much of its success to El-Hajj Mauri Saalakhan and to Alawi Masud. Mauri’ Saalakhan is a metropolitan Washington, DC-based human rights advocate, who serves as director of The Aafia Foundation. This publication would not have been possible without his expertise and guidance on the case. Alawi Masud serves as the Program Director at the Islamic Leadership Institute of America and helped facilitate the writing process of this document.