Pakistan demands access to al Qaeda suspect in U.S.

[SU_30MKI]

Pak woman scientist with al-Qaida link captured-USA-World-The Times of India

WASHINGTON: One of the most perplexing mysteries in the war on terror returned centerstage on Monday with the announcement by US authorities of the arrest in Kabul of a Pakistani-American woman scientist whose sudden disappearance in 2003 caused many to think she was in American or Pakistani custody and underscored the disturbingly clandestine nature of the war.

Aafia Siddiqui, an MIT alumna with a doctorate in neurosciences, and a mother of three children, vanished while on a visit to Karachi nearly five years ago. She was believed to have been taken into custody by Pakistani and/or US intelligence agencies because of her alleged connections to suspected terrorists and some questionable financial transactions.

So strong was the belief that she was one of the victims of the covert and spooky US-Pakistani collaboration that her family and friends petitioned courts for her release. There was concern and outrage in the Boston area, where she had long standing academic connections going back to her sophomore years at MIT in 1992.

Her work ranged from a paper on "Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women," to articles on the early systems in the Internet to, later, research in Neurosciences at Brandeis University.

More recently, there were reports that she was being held in solitary confinement at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility in Afghanistan, where fellow captives were said to have nicknamed her Prisoner No.650 and the "Gray Lady of Bagram." One report said she had lost her sanity and cried all the time. There was no information about her children, two of whom were toddlers when she disappeared and the youngest was only six months old.

But on Monday, the FBI announced that Siddique, now 36, was captured in Afghanistan as recently as July 17. The Bureau's version: On July 17, 2008, officers of the Ghazni Province Afghanistan National Police ("ANP") observed Siddiqui outside the Ghazni governor's compound. ANP officers questioned Siddiqui, regarded her as suspicious, and searched her handbag.

In it, they found numerous documents describing the creation of explosives, as well as excerpts from the Anarchist's Arsenal. Siddiqui's papers included descriptions of various landmarks in the United States, including in New York City. Siddiqui was also in possession of substances that were sealed in bottles and glass jars, the FBI said.

According to the Bureau, on July 18, 2008, a party of United States personnel, including two FBI special agents, a United States Army Warrant Officer, a United States Army Captain, and United States military interpreters, arrived at the Afghan facility where Siddiqui was being held. The personnel entered a second floor meeting room -- unaware that Siddiqui was being held there, unsecured, behind a curtain.

The Warrant Officer took a seat and placed his United States Army M-4 rifle on the floor next to the curtain. Shortly after the meeting began, the Captain heard a woman yell from the curtain and, when he turned, saw Siddiqui holding the Warrant Officer's rifle and pointing it directly at the Captain. Siddiqui said, "May the blood of [unintelligible] be directly on your [unintelligible, possibly head or hands]."

The interpreter seated closest to Siddiqui lunged at her and pushed the rifle away as Siddiqui pulled the trigger. Siddiqui fired at least two shots but no one was hit. The Warrant Officer returned fire with a 9 mm service pistol and fired approximately two rounds at Siddiqui's torso, hitting her at least once.

Despite being shot, Siddiqui struggled with the officers when they tried to subdue her; she struck and kicked them while shouting in English that she wanted to kill Americans. After being subdued, Siddiqui temporarily lost consciousness. The agents and officers then rendered medical aid to Siddiqui.

The FBI said Siddiqui had been brought to New York on Monday evening and will be presented on Tuesday before a Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on charges related to her attempted murder and assault of United States officers and employees in Afghanistan. No word about terrorism-related charges -- or about her three little children who disappeared along with her.

But the FBI version has been strongly contested by Siddiqui's family in Pakistan, which insists she has been in custody all along. "After five years of detention, Aafia was suddenly 'discovered' in Afghanistan? I am not that much of a believer in coincidence," her sister, Fauzia Siddiqui told the media in Karachi.

Independent rights group The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in a statement also termed the US claims as lies. "To say that she had been taken into custody only on July 17, 2008 is a blatant lie," it said. "The insinuation, that she had been hiding herself since 2003, is a travesty of truth."

Meanwhile, the new civilian government in Pakistan has demanded consular access to Aafia Siddiqui, amid suggestions that the previous military dictatorship actively collaborated with the US in keeping her in custody.

 

[Neo]

Pakistan demands access to al Qaeda suspect in U.S. ​

05 Aug 2008
Source: Reuters
By Aftab Borka

KARACHI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Pakistan has demanded consular access to a Pakistani woman with suspected links to al Qaeda who is due to be arraigned in New York on Tuesday on charges of attempting to murder U.S. troops and FBI agents in Afghanistan.

The New York Times newspaper said Aafia Siddiqui, a U.S.-trained neuroscientist, has links to at least two of 14 suspected high-level al Qaeda members held at Guantanamo Bay.

The story of her arrest is one of the strangest to emerge since the Sept. 11, 2001 al Qaeda attacks on the United States.

Siddiqui was brought to the United States on Monday and is due to be formally accused before a New York court of trying to kill U.S. soldiers and FBI agents at an Afghan police station last month, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Pakistan's ambassador to Washington made the request for consular access on Monday, Pakistan's state-run news agency said.

Afghan police arrested Siddiqui after becoming suspicious of her behaviour outside the provincial governor's compound in the city of Ghazni on July 17, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Police found documents describing bomb-making and excerpts from the book, Anarchist's Arsenal, as well as papers describing U.S. landmarks and substances sealed in bottles and jars.

The next day, U.S. soldiers and two FBI agents arrived at the Afghan police station where Siddiqui was being held.

"The personnel entered a second floor meeting room, unaware that Siddiqui was being held there, unsecured, behind a curtain," the department said on its Web site. A U.S. warrant officer placed his rifle on the ground, next to the curtain.

"Shortly after the meeting began, the captain heard a woman yell from the curtain and, when he turned, saw Siddiqui holding the warrant officer's rifle and pointing it directly at the captain," the Justice Department statement said.

"The interpreter seated closest to Siddiqui lunged at her and pushed the rifle away as Siddiqui pulled the trigger. Siddiqui fired at least two shots but no one was hit. The warrant officer returned fire with a 9 mm service pistol and fired approximately two rounds at Siddiqui's torso, hitting her at least once."

Despite being shot, Siddiqui continued to struggle and struck and kicked the officer while shouting in English that she wanted to kill all Americans and then passed out, the statement said.

RAPE ALLEGATION

Afghan police in Ghazni however, told a different story. They said officers searched Siddiqui after reports of her suspicious behaviour and found maps of Ghazni, including one of the governor's house, and arrested her along with a teenage boy.

U.S. troops requested the woman be handed over to them, but the police refused, a senior Ghazni police officer said.

U.S. soldiers then proceeded to disarm the Afghan police at which point Siddiqui approached the Americans complaining of mistreatment by the police.

The U.S. troops, the officer said, "thinking that she had explosives and would attack them as a suicide bomber, shot her and and took her". The boy remained in police custody.

Siddiqui and her three children disappeared from her parents' home in the Pakistani port city of Karachi in 2003 and Pakistani human rights groups said they believed the woman had been held at Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials believe Siddiqui was in Pakistan until her arrest in neighbouring Afghanistan, the New York Times said.

Family members said Siddiqui was raped and tortured at Bagram, although they did not say how they knew this.

"Her rape and torture is a crime beyond anything she was ever accused of," Fauzia Siddiqui told reporters in Karachi.

"For a long time, my family and I have kept our silence because we knew she was innocent and also based on threats of severe consequences if we spoke," she said. Fauzia Siddiqui said her sister would not receive a fair trial.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) demanded the Pakistani government intervene and secure her release.

"Dr. Aafia's case is a reminder of the grave injustice done to God knows how many Pakistanis in U.S. detention facilities in Bagram in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, who have been listed as missing" an HRCP statement said. (Additional reporting by Imtiaz Shah in Karachi and Sher Ahmad in Ghazni; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Paul Tait)

Reuters AlertNet - Pakistan demands access to al Qaeda suspect in U.S.

 

[Munir]

There is no free trial nor human conventions if you are painted as enemyof the state. And sofar I can judge muslims are painted pretty clear. Good that it is in the picture but it clears that western powers may change rules of dignity at their will the I guess opponents have the same rights. What makes the difference between 911 bombers and US government? nada.