KARACHI: Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui, the older sister of Pakistani physician Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, who is incarcerated in the United States, claimed that both the current and previous Pakistani governments are “fully complicit” in her sister’s lengthy incarceration.
The doctor made her statement while speaking with reporters at the airport in Karachi following her visitation of her imprisoned sister in the United States.
In September 2008, a New York federal district court indicted Dr. Aafia, a neuroscientist from Pakistan, on attempted murder and assault charges. These charges were related to an incident that occurred during her interrogation with US authorities in Ghazni, Afghanistan, and she refuted them.
She was tried, found guilty, and given an 86-year prison sentence in early 2010 following her 18 months of incarceration.
“Compared to before, Aafia was weaker. Dr. Fauzia stated, “She talked about getting shocks to the head. Her sister was also given a Bible and asked to study it.
The doctor described how, with a glass barrier separating them, the two sisters screamed for three hours during their meeting in the jail.
“The previous time, the phone wasn’t working, and the keys were lost,” Dr. Fauzia remarked, adding that her sister was taken away following their encounter.
Dr. Fauzia provided additional commentary on Dr. Aafia’s case, stating that their attorney, Clive Stafford Smith, had traveled to Afghanistan to conduct research for the case.
She disclosed, “The family who kept Aafia was also found.”
