KARACHI: The sister of Dr.

Aafia Siddiqui, Pakistani neuro-scientist,

imprisoned in America, Fauzia Siddiqui has said that the recent American
court verdict against her sister had exposed the myth of American justice.
Addressing the meeting of Karachi Bar Council, alongside president Karachi
Bar Association, Mahmood-ul-Hassan, and secretary Salahuddin, she said that
she had always insisted on using the diplomatic channel over the issue, but
expressed her dismay that lawyers had never been able to comprehend her
logic.
She reasoned that America never had any legal right to review her sister’s
case, and every sane being was chagrin over the highly discriminatory verdict
and attitude of American court(s).
Expressing her strong belief about return of Dr. Aafia, she said that it was not
a case for her, but rather pertained to honor and integrity of entire Ummah.
She cited a massive public turnout for the sake of Dr. Aafia, and said that all
have to decide about their duty of joining in the cause.
She urged on the Nation to unite for the common cause, as this was the
moment for the unity.
Source : onlinenews.com.pk

Legal - Credits

19/11/2008

WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (APP): The Pakistani embassy here has asked the United States
to urgently repatriate Dr Aafia Siddiqui to Pakistan for her rehabilitation in light of a
report that her current mental state renders the neuroscientist unable to stand court trial.

Under instructions of Ambassador Husain Haqqani, the embassy wrote a letter to the U.S.
State Department, requesting that 36-year old Ms Siddiqui may urgently be repatriated to
Pakistan where she will be mentally rehabilitated and monitored, according to a
spokesman.
This action will present a positive and more humane view of Pakistan-US relations and
help in improving public perceptions of Pakistanis about the United States, the embassy
emphasized.

The Forensic Evaluation Report by FMC Carsville Texas Hospital had concluded that Ms
Siddiqui “is not currently competent to proceed as a result of her mental disease, which
renders her unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against
her or to assist properly in her defense.”

SOURCE: APP.com.pk
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The Use of Executive Privilege Must Be Reined In: Problematic Claims of

Privilege Regarding the U.S. Attorney Firings and Torture Policies
15-07-2008
Last Thursday, July 10, former White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove refused to
honor the subpoena of a House subcommittee looking into whether or not wrongful
pressure was brought upon U.S. Attorneys in connection with the prosecution of a
former Democratic governor of Arkansas.
Did the Supreme Court Violate or Vindicate the Constitution in the Latest
Guantanamo Bay Decision? The Difference Between Separation of Powers and
Checks and Balances
18-06-2008
Not surprisingly, last week’s landmark 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in Boumediene v.
Bush has already been decried by conservatives and hailed by liberals.

R v Benbrika & Ors (Ruling no 20) [2008] VSC 80

22-03-2008
The accused in this case, 12 in number, have been indicted by the Commonwealth
Director of Public Prosecutions on a total of 13 counts alleging breaches of that part
of the Commonwealth Criminal Code concerned with proscribing activity associated
with terrorism.

The Investigations of the Destruction of CIA Torture Tapes: How An ACLU

Lawsuit Might Force the Bush Administration To Reveal What Actually
Happened
14-12-2007
By my count, there appear to be no less than ten preliminary investigations
underway, following the revelation that the CIA destroyed at least two sets of
videotapes (containing hundreds of hours of footage) of "advanced interrogation"
techniques being employed in terrorism investigations. In fact, every branch of
government is now involved.

What's at Stake in the Latest Guantanamo Bay Case?

05-12-2007
The Supreme Court hears oral argument today in Boumediene v. Bush, which
presents the question whether the Military Commissions Act of 2006 is
unconstitutional.

‘Enemy Combatant’ or Enemy of the Government?

03-10-2007
By introducing the concept of war into national law, the latest U.S. anti-terrorist law,
the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA), produces a turning point in the legal
and political organization of the Western world. It puts an end to a form of state that
succeeded in “establishing peace internally and excluding hostility as a concept of
law.”1 It is the constituent act of a new form of state that establishes war as a
political relation between constituted authorities and national populations

A System of Wholesale Denial of Rights

03-10-2007
As in the past, Americans owe Jean-Claude Paye a debt of gratitude. From his
position, as a sociologist in Brussels, he has proven that he can see what is happening
in George Bush’s and Dick Cheney’s America, more clearly perhaps than many who
live in the United States.

Modest Improvements Cannot Save an Inherently Flawed Process at

Guantánamo
28-07-2007
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its decision in
Bismullah v. Gates, the first case interpreting the new statutory review procedures
created to replace habeas corpus for Guantánamo detainees.

How a Military Officer's Sworn Declaration Sheds New Light on Guantanamo's

Flawed Detention System
29-06-2007
Last week, a U.S. Army Reserve officer provided the first glimpse into the inner-
workings of the Bush Administration's system for classifying hundreds of
Guantanamo detainees as "enemy combatants."

The Al-Marri Decision: A Victory for One Man, and for a Principle, But One
With Limited or Nonexistent Practical Consequence
18-06-2007
On Monday, June 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued its
decision in the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. The ruling was a blow to the Bush
Administration. The Fourth Circuit is one the most conservative federal appeals
courts in the country.
A Bid to Litigate the Legality of U.S.-Sponsored Torture in Federal Court: Will
It Succeed?
05-06-2007
Last week, the ACLU filed a suit that could provide human rights activists with an
ingenious mechanism to allow a federal court to litigate whether torture sponsored by
the U.S. is a tort - which would, in turn, mean its victims would be entitled to money
damages.

Getting Rid of Lawyers at Guantanamo: An Update

17-05-2007
Yesterday morning in Washington, I was lucky enough to witness oral arguments in
the latest chapter in the Guantánamo litigation saga.

Habeas Corpus Evaporating

15-05-2007
Aziz Huq directs the Liberty and National Security Project at the Brennan Center for
Justice. He is co-author of Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in Times
of Terror, and recipient of a 2006 Carnegie Scholars Fellowship.

The Case Against Restricting Lawyers at Guantanamo

15-05-2007
JURIST Special Guest Columnist Jonathan Hafetz, Counsel with the Brennan Center
for Justice at New York University School of Law, says that DOJ-proposed
restrictions on lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees would chill
communications between lawyers and their clients, suppress information about
detentions, and inhibit detainees from meaningfully contesting the allegations against
them...

David Hicks' Guilty Plea: Another Blow to US Moral Authority

10-04-2007
JURIST Guest Columnist Victor Hansen of New England School of Law says that
the overbearing terms imposed on Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks in
his recent military commission plea agreement are the product of an overly and
unfairly coercive system and have further undermined America's moral authority in
rule of law matters...
Coming Up Short on Habeas for Detainees
03-04-2007
JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohn of Thomas Jefferson School of Law,
president of the National Lawyers Guild, says that the Supreme Court's failure to
marshall enough votes to review the habeas-stripping provisions of the Military
Commissions Act at this stage shows that the court cannot be relied upon to
consistently provide justice and that Congress should pass rescinding legislation...

Dangerous Discretion: State Secrets and the El-Masri Rendition Case

13-03-2007
JURIST Guest Columnist Aziz Huq, Director of the Liberty and National Security
Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, says that the El-
Masri v. Tenet ruling represents a dangerous trend in "state secrets" cases towards
immunity from litigation at the discretion of the executive...

The Un-American Way: The Kafkaesque Case of Khalid El-Masri

13-03-2007
JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin Davis of the University of Toledo College of
Law says that the dismissal of Khalid el-Masri's rendition appeal on state secrets
grounds leaves him without right or remedy, just like the iconic Joseph K. in Franz
Kafka's The Trial, a legal and personal powerlessness which might have been
expected under various historically-notorious regimes, but not in the United States of
America...

The Ruling on Jose Padilla's Competence to Stand Trial: The Judge May Have
Been Right, But Legal and Moral Questions Persist
05-03-2007
Last week, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke ruled that American citizen Jose
Padilla, who is now facing terrorism charges in Miami, Florida, is competent to stand
trial.
By Saleem Chandio and Bachal Chandio

KARACHI: On the directives of the president of the Pasban, Altaf Shakoor, the birthday
ceremony of Dr Aafia Siddiqui was celebrated here on Tuesday.

The main event in this regard was held at the Karachi Press Club in which a large number
of the people belonging to different walks of life participated and paid rich tributes to the
brave Pakistani lady, who is presently languishing in a US prison. Cake was cut while a
number of pigeons and balloons were also released. President Pasban Altaf Shakoor, Dr
Fauzia Siddiqui, and civil society representatives were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Fauzia Siddiqui said that the presence of a large number of
people here shows that the Pakistani nation is still awake and fully backs the cause of Dr
Aafia's release.

Sheikho, Afghanistan -- An Afghan police colonel who says he was tortured last year by
American and Afghan interrogators has described his alleged ordeal.

Sayed Nabi Siddiqui says he was held for almost 40 days last summer, and was beaten,
stripped naked, sexually abused, and humiliated.

Siddiqui says he told his interrogators, "You are animals. This is like the jungle. This is
not human." He says they threatened to send him to Guantanamo Bay.

Siddiqui says he was an honest policeman who was in favor of the American invasion.
He believes he was denounced as a Taliban agent by an enemy of his family. Eventually
he was released.

The U.S. military says an investigation began Tuesday.

KARACHI: Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Thursday searched for eyewitnesses at a crime scene

after seven years of the kidnapping of the Pakistani scientist Dr Aafia Siddiqui.
Pakistani lawmakers have passed a resolution in parliament urging the government to
pressure the United States to immediately release Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently in
prison in the US.

On Monday, parliamentarians from the ruling party and opposition benches in the
Pakistani Senate, which is the upper house of parliament, adopted a resolution expressing
grave concern over the US court conviction of Dr. Siddiqui last month, a Press TV
correspondent reported on Monday.
A jury in the United States found Aafia Siddiqui guilty on charges of shooting at FBI
agents and US military personnel in a police station in Ghazni, Afghanistan, where she
was being interrogated in 2008.

She was convicted in a New York court on February 3, 2010 and could face life in prison
when sentenced on May 6.

The Pakistani MPs passed the resolution one day after thousands of people held an anti-
US demonstration in Islamabad in which they called for the release of Dr. Siddiqui.

Investigation Officer (IO) Shahid Siddiqui, SIO Arshad Leghari and other members of
the investigation team, along with the lawyer of Dr Aafia, Advocate Qadir Khan
Mandokhail and her sister Dr Fauzia Siddiqui, inspected the crime scene and recorded the
statements of eyewitnesses.

The 13-year-old son of Dr Aafia, Muhammad Ahmed, pointed out the location and told
the police that on March 30, 2003, when he along with his mother came out of their
house 140-E, Block 7, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, some 15-20 people including a ‘white lady’ who
were waiting in three to four vehicles on the next street kidnapped them. The
investigation officer recorded the statements of Ahmed and Dr Fauzia Siddiqui with their
signatures. staff report

06/08/2008

Staff Reporter

LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called upon all civil
society and human rights organizations to make a concerted effort for the release of all
missing people, including Dr Afia, who was denied justice.
In a statement issued here on Tuesday, Co-chairperson Iqbal Haider said that Dr Afia's
case was a reminder of the fact that a large number of Pakistanis were languishing at the
US detention centers in Bagram and Guantanamo Bay.

He rejected the US claims that Dr Afia was arrested on July 21, 2008,addng that the
claim was a blatant lie.

He said the US finally admitted that Dr Afia Siddiqi was in its custody after giving into
pressure exerted by the right groups.

He said the government should explain the circumstance leading to the detention of Dr
Afia and her three children in 2003.

Abdus Sattar Ghazali

American Muslim community has raised about $70,000 for Dr. Afia Siddiqui’s
defense, at a fund raiser held by the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA)
which has established a special legal defense fund for Dr. Afia who is
currently in detention at the Carswell Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth,
Texas. She is awaiting trial and awaiting a final conclusion on her competency
to stand trial. Doctors feel she is suffering due to torture. Addressing a
gathering of about 300 guests at the Muslim Community Center of Santa
Clara, Dr. Agha Saeed, President of Pakistan American Democratic Forum,
urged the government of Pakistan to release two million dollars it pledged for
the legal defense of Dr. Afia who has become a symbol of Pakistan peoples
struggle for Justice. He said that at least 1.7 million dollars are required for her
defense.

Dr Agha Saeed urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take sumo motto action
for the repatriation of Dr. Afia to Pakistan. Alluding to the recent meeting of
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry with the US special envoy
to Pakistan, Richard Holbrook, he expressed concern that Holbrook is pressing
the Chief Justice of Pakistan not to look into Dr. Afia’s case. Highlighting the
problem of missing persons, Dr. Agha Saeed said that lawyers and civil rights
group say that 980 Pakistani citizens are still missing which have been picked
up by the intelligence agencies. He referred to General Musharraf’s book – In
the Line of Fire – where on page 237, Musharraf acknowledges that the
government picked up 689 people and of which more than 300 were handed
over to US for bounty. Call to find out Dr. Afia’s two missing children.

He said that there was communication to the family from purported

representatives of the Pakistani intelligence services that the family members
should remain quiet if they want to see Afia returned alive. That is why the
family did not formally report Aafia or the three children as missing to the
Pakistani authorities. Dr. Siddiqui said that we came to know about Dr. Afia
after five years when Moazzam Begg, saw her in the US military detention
camp Bagram, in Afghanistan. Her story was published in the British press.
Tellingly, Binyam Mohamed, a British citizens released from Guantanamo
Bay said last March that he witnessed the detention of Dr Afia at Bagram.
Samina Faheem Sundas, Executive Director of American Muslim Voice, a
leading civil advocacy group, urged the governments of Pakistan and USA to
find out whereabouts of the two missing children of Dr. Afia. “This nightmare
situation continues to haunt Aafia,” she added. It may be noted that Mariam,
would now be about nine years of age, is an American citizen while Suleman,
who would now be about six years old is a Pakistani national. Suleman was
few months old when Dr. Afia disappeared along with her three kids in March
2003.

Dr Afia told that she was in Bargham that her children would be returned only
if she confessed to meetings with certain people. But she refused to do so.
Similarity between Hamadan and Dr. Afia cases. Attorney Charlie Swift,
defense attorney of Salim Hamadan, driver of Osama Bin Laden, told the
audience that there are many things common between Hamadan, and Afia’s
case. It may be recalled that Attorney Charlie Swift and Attorney Neil Katyal
filed a petition for habeas corpus in the US Supreme Court to challenge
Hamadan’s confinement in the Guant¨¢namo Bay military prison. In June
2006, the Court issued a 5-3 decision holding that that the federal government
did not have the authority to establish special military commissions. The court
verdict forced the Bush administration to ask the congress in October 2008 to
hastily pass the Military Commissions Act.

Attorney Swift related the intensive legal efforts to convince the Supreme
Court in Hamadan’s case and said that similarly exhaustive legal efforts are
required in Dr. Afia’s case. There should be forensic enquiry of the crime
scene, he said adding: “There should be an in depth probe in central
Afghanistan where she was said to be captured.” According to the charge sheet
Dr Siddiqui was loitering outside the compound of Ghazni Governor in
Afghanistan on July 17, 2008 when she was taken into custody and had in her
possession numerous documents on making explosives, chemical weapons and
other weapons involving biological material and neurological agents.

The attorney said that there should be a dedicated effort to uncover the truth,
including interviews with Moazzam Beg who saw Afia in Bagram prison and
Ammar Ali Balochi to whom Afia allegedly married as claimed by the US
officials. Afia has denied marrying Balochi who is presently under detention at
Guantanamo. Swift said that the government story about the circumstances of
her capture were unbelievable. How a fragile woman can take a gun from the
American officials and try to shoot them, he asked? According to the charge
sheet, while under detention at the Bagram airbase she shot at American
officials after getting hold of a rifle of one of them.

Dr. Afia’s family has now officially partnered with MLFA to secure funding
and prepare for an effective legal defense. The MLFA raises funds for the
legal defense of Muslim individuals and organizations. It has processed over
400 cases ranging from profiling to charity indictments. Since Muslim
charitable organizations are under scrutiny since 9/11.

Attorny Swift, issued a written statement saying that donations made to

support Dr Afia’s legal defense pose no risk to the donor. It may be added that
President Barrack Obama, in his historic Cairo address to the Muslim world,
acknowledged that the seven-million strong American Muslim community is
facing problem in giving charity to the Muslim charitable organizations.
“”Rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their
religious obligation. That’s why I’m committed to working with American
Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat,” said Obama. Tellingly, on May
27, five founders of the Holy Land Foundation, once the nation’s largest
Muslim charity, were given prison terms of up to sixty-five years on charges
of supporting the Palestinian group Hamas. The five were never accused of
supporting violence and were convicted for funding charities that aided needy
Palestinians.

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