Aafia Siddiqui: Difference between revisions

Aafia Siddiqui (born March 2, 1972) is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Brandeis alumna, originally from Karachi, Pakistan. She disappeared in 2003, and resurfaced in U.S. custody in 2008. She was convicted on February 3, 2010, in a Manhattan court of attempted murder and armed assault, having shot at soldiers who were guarding her while she was in custody.^[1]

Siddiqui was one of three siblings born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. Her father, Muhammad Siddiqui, was a British trained doctor and her mother, Ismet, a homemaker. Her brother, an architect, lives with his wife, a pediatrician, in Houston, Texas. Her sister, Fowzia Siddiqui, is a Harvard-trained neurologist and worked in Sinai hospital, Baltimore before returning to Pakistan.^[2]

Siddiqui moved to Texas, United States in 1990 joining her siblings, and after attending the University of Houston during her freshman year, she attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for her sophomore year.^[2]

During her years at MIT, she was regarded as religious by her colleagues. She apparently joined an association of Muslim students and wrote three guides for teaching Islam. In 1992, as a sophomore at MIT, Siddiqui received a Carroll L. Wilson Award for her research proposal "Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women".^[3] As a junior, Siddiqui received a $1,200 City Days fellowship through MIT's program to help clean up Cambridge elementary school playgrounds. During her undergraduate years, she lived in McCormick Hall and worked at the MIT libraries, graduating from MIT in 1995.^[4] A year after she graduated, Siddiqui wrote an article for the MIT Information Systems newsletter about the File Transfer Protocol and the then-emerging World Wide Web.

In 1995 she had an arranged marriage to anesthesiologist Amjad Mohammed Khan from Karachi in Pakistan. They were married over the phone.^[5] In 1999, while living in Boston, Siddiqui and her husband founded the nonprofit Institute of Islamic Research and Teaching.^[6] She attended a mosque outside of the city, where she stored copies of the Koran and other Islamic literature that she distributed.^[7] She went on to graduate study in cognitive neuroscience at Brandeis University, receiving a Ph.D. degree in 2001 for her dissertation, titled "Separating the Components of Imitation." She also co-authored several journal articles.

According to Khan after September 11 attacks Siddiqui insisted on leaving the U.S. stating that it was unsafe for them and their children because the U.S. government was abducting Muslim children.^[8] In May 2002 FBI questioned Siddiqui and her husband over their purchase of $10,000 worth of night vision goggles, body armour and military manuals including 'The Anarchist's Arsenal', 'Fugitive', 'Advanced Fugitive', and 'How to Make C-4?' over the Internet.^[5][2][9] Khan claimed that these were for hunting and camping expeditions. On June 26, 2002, the couple returned to Pakistan.^[10][5]

By August 2002 her marriage had reached a breaking point. One day Khan came to Siddiqui's parental home and announced his intention to divorce her. An argument occurred between Khan and her father and soon thereafter Siddiqui's father suffered a fatal heart attack and died on August 15, 2002.^[11][2] Few weeks later Siddiqui gave birth to her 3rd child. The divorce was finalized in October 21, 2002.^[11][9] Her ex-husband has accused her of being abusive and manipulative through their 7 years of marriage and stated that she had a violent personality and extremist views leading him to suspect her of involvement in Jihadi activities.^[8] He has also claimed that she wanted him to move to Afghanistan and work as a medic for the Mujahideen.^[9] They have 3 children: Ahmed (b. 1996), Maryam (b. 1998), and Suleman (b. 2002). The two older children are American citizens.^[10]

In a dossier prepared by U.N. investigators to present to 9/11 Commission in 2004 Siddiqui was named as one of six alleged Al-qaeda figures who were involved in buying diamonds in West Africa just prior to September 11 attacks.^[12] It has been claimed that she had visited Monrovia in Liberia in 2001.^[2] According to Alan White former chief investigator of a UN backed war crimes tribunal in Liberia she was in Monrovia on June 16, 2001, using an alias 'Fahrem'.^[10]

In December 2002 Siddiqui made another trip to the U.S. stating that she was looking for a job. FBI suspects that the real purpose of the trip was to open a PO Box for an alleged Al-qaeda operative Majid Khan.^[2] Siddiqui listed Majid Khan as a co owner and falsely identified him as her husband.^[9] The key of this PO box was later found in possession of Uzair Paracha who was convicted for providing material support to Al-qaeda and sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in 2006.^[13] Siddiqui's ex husband Amjad Khan also has stated that he too was suspicious of Siddiqui's intentions as the trip was made between December 22, 2002, and January 3, 2003, a time when the universities in U.S. are closed.^[8]

At the time of her arrest in 2008 she claimed to be married to Ammar al-Baluchi a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed when FBI agents questioned her in Afghanistan, according to court records.^[14] Siddiqui's marriage to al-Baluchi has been denied by her family but confirmed by Pakistani intelligence, FBI and according to court records by Siddiqui herself.^[5] A defense psychologist also confirmed the marriage^[15] and BBC confirmed it from security sources and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's family.^[16]

Before her disappearance, she was working at the Aga Khan University in Karachi. On March 1, 2003, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, alleged chief planner of September 11 attacks, was arrested in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. It is speculated that Khalid revealed Siddiqui's name during the interrogation and, consequently, a series of arrests began. There are also some doubts that he may have spoken under duress. On the same day, Siddiqui emailed a former professor at Brandeis University and expressed interest in working in the United States, citing lack of options in Karachi for women of her academic background. A few days later, she disappeared after she left her parents' house along with her three children. She took a taxi to catch a morning flight to Islamabad planning to visit her uncle.^[5][10]

Siddiqui's whereabouts and activities from 2003 to 2008 are a matter of dispute. In March 2003, the FBI issued a global "wanted for questioning" alert for Siddiqui and her ex-husband, Amjad Khan. While Siddiqui remained missing, Khan was questioned and subsequently released by the FBI.^[5] Multiple allegations were made against Siddiqui, which depicted her as "a courier of blood diamonds and a financial fixer for al-Qaida".^[17] Khan believes she went into hiding after the global alert for her was issued.^[8][5] According to Yvonne Ridley, she spent those years in solitary confinement at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan as Prisoner 650. According to the U.S. and her ex-husband Amjad Khan, Siddiqui was at large, working on behalf of Al Qaeda.^[5][18] Siddiqui herself gave conflicting explanations alternately claiming that she was kidnapped by U.S. Intelligence & Pakistani intelligence while also claiming that she was working for Pakistani intelligence during this time.^[14]

During her 'disappearance' Khan claimed to have seen her at Islamabad airport in April 2003 as she got off a flight with her son and said he helped Inter-Services Intelligence identify her. Two years later he claimed to have seen her in a Karachi traffic jam. Siddiqui's maternal uncle Shams ul-Hassan Faruqi claims to have met her in January 2008 when she came to visit him in Islamabad and asked for his help in order to cross over into Afghanistan where she thought she would be safe in the hands of Taliban.^[5][9] Faruqi stated that he immediately notified his sister, Siddiqui's mother who came in the next day to meet her daughter. He claimed that Siddiqui stayed with them for 2 days.^[19]

Siddiqui has also been unable to explain what happened to her 2 younger children. ^[14] Her ex husband Muhammad Amjad Khan believes that the children are in Karachi and in contact with Siddiqui's family.^[8] He also claims that the missing children were seen in Siddiqui's house in Karachi and Islamabad on several occasions since their alleged disappearance in 2003.^[8] Her eldest son Ahmad resurfaced in 2008, but her two younger children still remain missing. Ahmad has been disallowed from talking to the press by Siddiqui's family.^[5] Her ex-husband has unsuccessfully sought custody of his eldest son and stated that he suspected the 2 younger children were with Siddiqui's family and not in U.S. detention.^[20]

In 2003-04, the FBI and the Pakistani government denied any information of the whereabouts of Siddiqui and the FBI listed her among seven "most wanted" al-Qaeda fugitives, declaring her a "terrorist facilitator".^[21][5][4] In May 2004 the U.S. listed her among the seven "most wanted" al-Qaeda fugitives and in the same month, Pakistani interior ministry spokesman, unnamed, confirmed that Siddiqui was arrested and handed over to U.S. authorities in 2003.^[22]

Five years after her disappearance in Karachi, the FBI conceded that she is alive and in U.S. custody in Afghanistan.^[18] According to U.S. government sources, Siddiqui was arrested in July 2008 by U.S. forces in Ghazni, Afghanistan on accusation of being a suicide bomber and alleged possession of "chemical and gel substances" for bomb making.^[5] The official complaint against her states that she was arrested and taken to police station on suspicions of her failure to speak either of Afghanistan's main languages, Pashtu or Darri. At the time of her arrest she was accompanied by a boy who she claimed was an orphan she had adopted. She stated her name was Saliha and she was from Multan in Pakistan and the boys name was Ali Hassan. DNA testing soon revealed that the boy in fact was her oldest son Ahmed.^[10]

The complaint further says that two U.S. army officers and two FBI agents arrived next day in Ghazni with their interpreters for a meeting; not knowing that Siddiqui was standing behind a curtain in the same room. She, allegedly, came out from behind the curtain and picked up the assault rifle which one of the officers had placed on the floor by his feet, pointing it at Americans, and threatening loudly in English. She is then said to have fired at least two shots by the time an interpreter managed to wrestle the gun away from her.^[17] She was then shot in the abdomen by a warrant officer and had to be taken to Bagram Air Base by helicopter in a critical condition. When she arrived at the hospital she was 3 on Glasgow Coma Scale but underwent emergency surgery and recovered over next 2 weeks.^[9]

She was charged in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York with assaulting, and attempting to kill, United States personnel while in Afghanistan as well as with having connections with al-Qaeda.^[5]

Siddiqui was charged with attempted murder and assault for allegedly trying to kill an American interrogator in a gun battle in July 2008, after she was arrested outside an Afghan government compound in Ghazni with a handbag full of chemicals and information on chemical, biological and radiological weapons, as well as descriptions of “various landmarks” in the United States ^[23]. Her trial was subject to numerous delays, the longest, of six months, due to a psychiatric evaluation of claims that she was "going crazy", with hallucinations and crying fits. Three of four psychiatric experts concluded that she was faking her symptoms of mental illness.^[5] Siddiqui faces up to 20 years in prison on the attempted murder charges and life in prison on the firearms charge.^[24] The Pakistani government confirmed that they paid $2 million for the services of the three lawyers appointed to defend Siddiqui during her trial, which started January 19, 2010, in New York.^[25]

A large number of Siddiqui's supporters were present in the court and two other rooms in the building, watching the proceedings via closed circuit television. Outside the court, dozens of people, led by Shahid Comrade of the Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum, rallied to demand justice for Siddiqui and her release.^[26]

In February 2009, after six years of silence, her ex-husband Muhammad Amjad Khan, spoke up and said that most of the press reports related to her as well as their children were false ^[8]. In Pakistan, a petition has been filed seeking action against the Pakistani government for not approaching the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to have Siddiqui released from the U.S. Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffree said that the CIA had arrested Siddiqui from Karachi in 2003 and one of her sons, was killed during her arrest. On January 21, 2010, he submitted documents allegedly proving the arrest of Siddiqui from Pakistan to the Lahore High Court. The hearing of the petition was on January 25, 2010 and pending.^[27]

Siddiqui's trial began on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, in New York.^[28] Prior to the trial, Siddiqui declared that she would boycott the trial, because she considered herself innocent of all charges, which she maintained she can prove, but refused to do that in court.^[29] On January 11, Siddiqui told a judge that she wanted to fire her legal team and complained about "injustices in this court." Jury selection was scheduled for Wednesday, January 13, in federal court of Manhattan.^[30] It was reported on January 14, 2010, that Siddiqui said, addressing Manhattan federal judge Richard Berman, that she would not cooperate with her attorneys, and repeatedly denounced the proceedings. She said she did not want Jews on the jury and demanded that all prospective jurors be DNA-tested and excluded from the jury at her trial in New York; "If they have a Zionist or Israeli background...they are all mad at me,(...)I have a feeling everyone here is them—subject to genetic testing. They should be excluded if you want to be fair."^[31] She further stated she had a lack of trust in the judge and that she was "boycotting the trial (...) there are too many injustices. I’m out of this". Following the outburst she was removed from the court, although the judge asserted she would be allowed back, as she was entitled to be present at her trial. A jury selection was completed on Thursday and opening arguments commenced Tuesday, January 19.^{[32][33][34][35][36]} On her comments regarding the jury selection, Siddiqui's legal team stated that Siddiqui's incarceration had damaged her mind.^[37]

The attempted-murder trial of Siddiqui began in Manhattan federal courtroom on January 19, 2010. Prior to the jury entering the courtroom, Siddiqui turned to onlookers and told them that she had information about domestic terror plots, would not work with her lawyers and was there against her will saying; "This isn't a fair court, (...) Why do I have to be here? (...) There are many different versions of how this happened" referring to the alleged shooting.^[38] She also claimed to have knowledge of the 9/11 attacks; "I have information about attacks, more than 9/11!" (...) "I want to help the president to end this group, to finish them" (...) "They are a domestic, U.S. group, they are not Muslim. I’m not lying, I swear!" she reasserted the need for her to meet the president because "It's important!" (...) "The President has to talk to me and this is the last opportunity I have once I'm sentenced" (...) "God, it's important, and please don't ignore me for the sake of God and this beautiful country."^[39][40]

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenna Dabbs told jurors Siddiqui was taken into custody by Afghan police in July, because she was carrying containers of unidentified chemicals and notes referring to mass-casualty attacks and New York landmarks such as the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Three government witnesses testified; Army Capt. Robert Snyder, John Threadcraft, a former army officer and John Jefferson, an FBI agent. Both were stationed in Afghanistan at the time of the alleged assault and murder attempt.

During the trial, while Snyder testified that Siddiqui had been arrested with a handwritten note outlining plans to attack various U.S. sites, Siddiqui disrupted the proceedings stating; "Since I'll never get a chance to speak, if you were in a secret prison ... where children were tortured," (...) "This is no list of targets against New York. I was never planning to bomb it. You're lying."^{[41][42][43][44]}

As result of her outbursts, Siddiqui was repeatedly removed from the court. While ordering the removal of Siddiqui, Judge Berman said that she could watch the proceedings on closed-circuit television in an adjacent holding cell, a proposal that Siddiqui rejected. A request by the defence lawyers to declare a mistrial was turned down by the judge.^[45]

The statements Siddiqui allegedly made in the Afghan police station in Ghazni,^[46] was also mentioned by Dabbs, but the defense highlighted the absence of any forensic evidence. No bullets, shell casings or bullet debris were recovered. Neither were any bullet holes detected at the crime scene. During the cross-examination, the defense attorneys, Charles Swift and Linda Moreno, cited the contradiction in the versions of the alleged Ghazni incident given by the three witnesses. The witness testimonies ranged the number of people present at the police outpost to the distance of the barrel of the gun from the curtain. Another issue was the sloppy handling of evidence and the weapon.^[47]

The trial continued with testimonies of FBI agent John Jefferson and Ahmed Gul, an army interpreter, who recounted their alleged struggle with her in Ghazni. Following Tuesday's outbursts, Judge Berman warned Siddiqui that no more outbursts would be tolerated, which she accepted; "I’m just going to be quiet, but it doesn’t mean I agree."^[48]

The trial took an unusual turn when an FBI official asserted that the fingerprints taken from the rifle, which was purportedly used by Siddiqui to shoot at the U.S. interrogators, did not match hers. Further the testimony of witness Masood Haider Gul appeared to differ from that given by U.S. Capt. Snyder earlier. The defense denied all charges saying; "The soldiers had given different versions of where she was when the M-4 was allegedly fired and how many shots were fired."^[49][50]

The trial lasted for 2 weeks and the jury deliberated for 2 days before reaching a verdict. On February 3, 2010, she was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder, armed assault, using and carrying a firearm and assault on U.S. officers and employees and faces up to 60 years in prison.^[1] Sentence will be passed in May 2010.^[50][51]

According to Pakistani newspaper The News International the Taliban have threatened to execute U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl in retaliation for Siddiqui's conviction.^[52]

They claim members of Siddiqui's family requested their help. A Taliban spokesman claimed^[53]:

"We tried our best to make the family understand that our role may create more troubles for the hapless woman, who was already in trouble. On their persistent requests, we have now decided to include Dr Aafia Siddiqui's name in the list of our prisoners in US custody that we delivered to Americans in Afghanistan for swap of their soldier in our custody."

• Bagram torture and prisoner abuse

• Sealed Complaint in U.S. v. Siddiqui; July 31, 2008
• Indictment in U.S. v. Siddiqui; September 3, 2008
• FBI Seeking Information poster
• Times Topics : Aafia Siddiqui
• Official website of Siddiqui's family
• "Who's Afraid of Aafia Siddiqui?" Boston Magazine
• "The mystery of Dr Aafia Siddiqui"
• Biography and updated news
• Siddiqui at Texas Medical Centre
• U.S. officials presented incriminating evidences in court against Khalid Awan pakistani/canadian.
• "Aafia Siddiqui Indicted" (press release). United States Department of Justice. September 2, 2008.
• NA human rights body for early release of Dr Aafia
• Ignoring Torture Claims and Questionable Evidence, New York Jury Convicts Pakistani Scientist Aafia Siddiqui - video report by Democracy Now!