Demonstration: Women protest US Abuse of Dr. Aafia & her betrayal by Zardari [11:30am Sat 20th Feb]
London UK, 18th Feb 2010 – Hundreds of Muslim women from across the UK are to gather outside the Pakistan Embassy in London this Saturday [20th February 2010] to protest against the horrific kidnap, abuse and sham trial of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui at the hands of the U.S. government.
They will also express their disgust and dismay at the criminal inaction of the Zardari leadership over her case and that of hundreds of other innocent Muslims detained illegally by Pakistani and American security forces. The demonstration has been organised by the women of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain. A letter will also be delivered on the day by a high-level delegation of women from the organisation.
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz, Women’s Media Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain said, “Dr. Aafia is yet another human tragedy of this ‘War on Terror’, another victim of US democracy at work. Muslim women are repulsed but not shocked at the treatment of Dr. Aafia by the democratic American apparatus. After all this is a system that has gained notoriety for abductions, secret detention, and torture to secure political aims; a system known to dispense with the rule of law, human rights and justice when interests dictate; a system that has made its mark in the abuse of Muslim women, with Abu Ghraib – where Muslim women were sexually tortured, photographed naked, and raped – still raw in the minds of many; a system that has become a champion of international terror.”
“The Zardari government’s complicity in Dr. Aafia’s ordeal is criminal. It shamelessly surrenders its judicial process, economics, politics and military to the U.S and lies supine while a foreign power fearlessly detains, tortures and extradites its own citizens. These Muslim rulers willingly place their necks under the boots of their Western masters.”
“Unlike Zardari and company, Muslim women in Britain will not turn their backs on Dr. Aafia. We will continue to call for her liberation from the clutches of her tormentors, not through placing trust in a the hypocritical, merciless democratic system of the US, Britain or Pakistan but by calling for a system that cares sincerely for the welfare of its citizens; a system that refuses to be manipulated by outside forces; a system that will not tolerate the abduction, detention, or torture of even one of its citizens; a system that will work to free Dr. Aafia and other innocent Muslims incarcerated under the fictitious label of terrorism by Western governments, and bring them home; a system that will show in action, not in hollow words that it is the true guardian of its people. This system is the Khilafah state.”
[Ends]
Notes for Editors:
The peaceful demonstration will be on Saturday 20th February 2010 at 11:00am at the Pakistan High Commission [Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 8JN].
