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The shame of the west and Muslim rulers in the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui |
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Issues Explained
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Tuesday, 19 August 2008 |
 The case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is surely one that pulls the heartstrings, turns the stomachs and enrages any decent human being. The horrific ordeal suffered by this ordinary mother of three exposes yet another human tragedy of this “War on Terror”, alias the “War on Islam”.
It should make those involved and those governments who claim to champion the cause of human rights nationally and globally but yet have remained silent over her story, hide their faces in shame.
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is a neuroscientist and graduate of genetics. Having studied for ten years in the US to gain her degree and PhD in cognitive neuroscience, she later returned to Pakistan where she is a citizen. Five years ago, in March 2003 she disappeared along with her three children, aged 7 years, 5 years and 6 months during a visit to her mother’s house in Karachi. It is widely suspected that she was picked up on the way to the airport by Pakistani Intelligence and handed over to the FBI who believed her to be an “Al-Qaeda operative”. It is widely suspected that she was yet another Pakistani citizen handed over to the Americans by the Musharraf government in exchange for money for the country or support for his leadership. Her arrest was initially confirmed in the Pakistani Urdu press by a spokesman of the Pakistani Interior Ministry and two unnamed US officials. However, strangely a few days later, both the Pakistani and American authorities backtracked, denying any knowledge of her arrest or location.
For five years, the whereabouts of Dr. Aafia and her three children was unknown until Afghan police officers in the province of Ghazni claimed in July 2008 that she had been picked up in the area on terrorism charges. She now resides in a prison in Brooklyn, New York – a citizen and resident of Pakistan extradited to the US with no due process and now facing trial in an American court on charges of attempted murder and assault of US servicemen in Afghanistan. The whereabouts of her three children are still unknown.
Her lawyers and many human rights organisations now believe strongly that following her disappearance, she was held for many years in Bagram, the US base in Afghanistan. Many of these organisations and her family have claimed that during this time she was tortured to such a level that she lost her mind. They believe that she was “Prisoner 650” of Bagram, described by other prisoners who escaped or were released from the prison as a woman held in solitary confinement and whose cries and screams haunted other inmates. Lord Nazir Ahmed who raised the issue of the condition of Prisoner 650 in the House of Lords, at a time when her identity was unknown, said of her that she was physically tortured and repeatedly raped by officers in the prison. He also submitted that Prisoner 650 had no separate toilet facilities and had to attend to her bathing and movements in full view of the other prisoners.
The humiliation of this sister did not end at Bagram. Now detained at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, the authorities stress that she be “stripped searched” – stripped naked – each and every time she wishes to meet with her attorneys, Pakistani diplomats or family members. This is despite the fact that the Federal Bureau of Prisons has already forbidden her from having any physical contact with anyone during her visits. The sister refused to undergo such humiliation on many occasions and therefore relinquished the right to have access to even her lawyers at those times.
Now Aafia Siddiqui faces the prospect of an American “Kangaroo court” and “Political Trial” to protect the US from embarrassment, rather than from terrorism. Her lawyer, Elaine Whitfield Sharp commented that her client was being detained for political reasons and that all allegations brought against her had “proven wrong and unsubstantiated”. How strange that a woman described by the FBI for 5 years as one of America’s most wanted in the War on Terror and supposedly arrested by the Afghan authorities with the claim of carrying bomb-making instructions in her handbag and bottled dangerous chemical fluids is now being tried not on terrorism charges but on criminal charges of attempted murder and assault.
The story of the US authorities is that she seized a US serviceman’s rifle during an interrogation in Afghanistan and opened fire on a group of US officers. They claim that one of the officers then shot and wounded her in the chest following which she kicked and struck out at the US servicemen who were attempting to restrain her. If convicted, she faces a maximum of 20 years on each charge. However, there are many inconsistencies in the story and Afghan police also present during the interrogation gave different accounts of the incident. Some told Reuters that the US troops had demanded she be handed over but when the Afghan police refused, they were disarmed. They claimed that the Americans shot at Siddiqui, thinking she was a suicide bomber.
One wonders how a 90lb woman, shot in the chest and described as so weak and fragile that she had to be aided into the US court room, could struggle against and assault a group of US officers holding her down. Dr. Aafia’s defense attorney Elizabeth Fink argued that alleging a “90lb woman” could incite the violence claimed in the complaint of the US authorities was “patently absurd”. I. A. Rehman, director general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), an independent organisation said of the American account of her capture, “This is one of the greatest lies of the 21st century.”
The response of the Western governments and Muslim rulers, especially the Pakistani government to the horrific ordeal suffered by Dr. Aafia has been shameful. Many unanswered questions remain in her case – Who exactly was responsible for her disappearance? Why was she detained with no charge at Bagram for so many years with no access to legal representation? Why was she extradited to the US with no due process? Where are her three children? Such questions have not been raised by any Western government to the US or Pakistani authorities.
The inaction, muted response and double standards of the Western governments who claim to champion human rights globally but yet have turned their back on the inhumane treatment and gross violation of rights of individuals such as Dr. Aafia have become all too familiar to the world. It is all too evident that terms such as human rights, rule of law, fair justice, and due process are simply political tools used by such governments for political expediency and leverage on the international stage to secure national interests – used, abused and discarded when required rather than rights that have real value to humanity. How dare these governments claim to ride the moral high ground while the stench of hypocrisy exudes from their own backyard? How dare such governments point an ignorant accusing finger at Islam’s treatment of women when Dr. Aafia’s case shows that the witch hunts of old have not ended? Who is really medieval in their behaviour?
The Pakistani government’s involvement and/or inaction in the treatment of this sister can only be described as criminal. How shameful that they have handed over the sovereignty of their judicial process over their own citizens to the American’s. How shameful that they have bartered the honour of this sister for a fist full of dollars. How shameful that they have sold this daughter of this Ummah to those who have shown their venomous hatred towards Islam.
The betrayal of the Muslim rulers knows no bounds. Their total disregard for the needs and rights of their people is evident for all to see – they have done nothing for this Ummah. How could the Musharraf government accept for one of its own citizens to be extradited to the US and tried in a kangaroo American court with no questions asked? The position of these rulers in governance serves no other purpose than keeping the seats of power warm.
They are immune to the sufferings, tears and pain of their people in their senseless struggle to maintain power and personal fortunes. How could a government accept for one of their daughters to be tortured till she loses her senses? How could a government accept for three young children to be stripped away from their mother – one only six months of age who knew of nothing but the love and warmth of its mother’s arms? Truly, betrayal has been the story of these Muslim rulers; cowardice their legacy.
The case of Aafia Siddiqui surely reflects more than ever the need for the establishment of the Khilafah state. The women of this Ummah yearn daily for this sincere Islamic leadership that will guard their honour, return their rights, remove their state of fear and establish security in their lands. They call for a state that will wipe away their misery, their pain, their tears of shame and herald a new dawn of hope, strength and justice to this Ummah. It will be a state that will present to the world the true appreciation of human life, human dignity, and the rights of the human being.
The daughters of this Ummah await the bayah for the Khalifah who will truly care for their needs and with whom the oppressed servants of Allah will take shelter – a sincere Muslim leader who will send the brave son’s of this Ummah to liberate Muslim women from their prisons of oppression – son’s such as Muhammed ibn Qasim who in the 8th century when some Muslim women were taken prisoner by the Raja of Delhi, was dispatched by the Khilafah with six thousand cavalry and six thousand cavalry drivers. He faced an army several times this size and defeated them.
So as believers and as faithful servants of Allah, let each one of us work with our heart and soul, raising our voices high and exerting all efforts for the establishment of this honourable state that will turn the despair of our sisters into hope and their darkness into light. Allah(swt) says,
“Allah has promised, to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance (of power), as He granted it to those before them; that He will establish in authority their religion, the one which He has chosen for them; and that He will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived), to one of security and peace: `They will worship Me (alone) and not associate aught with Me.' If any do reject Faith after this, they are rebellious and wicked.”
[TMQ 24: 55]
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Women’s Media Representative – Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
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