Aafia Siddiqui

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aafia Siddiqui

Aafia Siddiqui ( Urdu عافیہ صدیقی ʿĀfiya Ṣiddīqī ; * March 2, 1972 in Karachi ) is a Pakistani neuroscientist. On February 3, 2010, she was convicted of attempted murder in Manhattan after allegedly shooting at soldiers who were supposed to be guarding her in her captivity.

Family background

Aafia's father, Muhammad Siddiqui, was a doctor. Aafia has two siblings: her brother lives as an architect in Houston ; her sister Fowzia worked as a neurologist at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore after graduating from Harvard until she returned to Pakistan.

education

Aafia moved to Texas with her siblings in 1990 and completed her freshman year at the University of Houston ; she then moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , where she received her first degree in 1995.

That same year, she was married to anesthetist Amjad Mohammed Khan over the phone . Aafia Siddiqui enrolled at Brandeis University in cognitive neuroscience and in 2001 for her dissertation Separating the Components of imitation for Ph.D. PhD.

In May 2002, the FBI questioned Aafia Siddiqui and her husband after they bought night vision goggles , bulletproof vests and military manuals, including The Anarchist's Arsenal, for $ 10,000 . In June 2002 the couple returned to Pakistan. Their marriage ended in divorce in October.

Aafia Siddiqui returned to the US in December 2002, allegedly to look for a job. She opened a mailbox in the name of the terror suspect Majid Khan, pretending to be her husband.

Before her disappearance, Aafia Siddiqui last worked at the Aga Khan University in Karachi. In March 2003, the FBI launched a worldwide search for her and her ex-husband. While Khan was questioned by the FBI and released, Siddiqui remained missing. In April 2003 the FBI put her on the list of the seven most wanted al-Qaeda refugees.

Arrest and trial

According to the US government, Siddiqui was arrested by US forces in Ghazni (Afghanistan) in July 2008 , accompanied by her eldest son Akhmed. According to the prosecution, she is said to have seized an assault rifle during interrogation and shot at least two Americans with it. At the subsequent trial in New York, the defense complained about contradicting representations of the events and the lack of bullets or cartridge cases; there are also no bullet holes at the crime scene. An FBI official said the fingerprints on the murder weapon did not come from Aafia. The jury finally sentenced her to 60 years. The verdict in September 2010 was finally 86 years in prison.

Siddiqui is held at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell , Fort Worth , Texas , according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons , with registration number 90279-054 . Her release date was dated September 22, 2083.

Petition for her release

In February 2009, her ex-husband, Muhammad Amjad Khan, broke his silence and called the media reports largely false. The Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffree claimed in January 2010, the CIA had Aafia was arrested in Karachi in 2003, killing one of her sons; his petition was heard in the Lahore Supreme Court on January 25, 2010, pending decision. Senior Pakistani politicians, including Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani , declared after the verdict against Siddiqui that they would campaign for their transfer to Pakistan.

The hostage-takers from In Amenas demanded in January 2013 exchange with two US hostages for her release and that of the detained also in the United States Omar Abd al-Rahman. In 2014, members of the Islamic State terrorist group who kidnapped a 26-year-old woman in 2013 called for Siddiqui's release.

Web links

Commons : Aafia Siddiqui  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Katherine Ozment: Who's Afraid of Aafia Siddiqui? ( January 25, 2009 memento on the Internet Archive ) - Boston Magazine, October 2004
  2. ↑ Amad S: The Gray Lady of Bagram: Dr. Aafia Siddiqui . MuslimMatters.org. August 18, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2008.
  3. ↑ a b Keith J. Winstein: Reported Capture of MIT Alumna Denied by FBI . The Tech. Retrieved February 3, 2010.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f The mystery of Dr Aafia Siddiqui , The Guardian , November 24, 2009
  5. ↑ a b Juliane von Mittelstaedt: The most dangerous woman in the world - Der Spiegel , November 27, 2008
  6. ^ The intelligence factory: How America makes its enemies disappear , Harper's Magazine , November 2009
  7. ↑ Pakistanis will not be extradited, US told , Dawn. April 16, 2003. Retrieved February 4, 2010. 
  8. ↑ Suzanne Goldenberg and Saeed Shah: Mystery of 'ghost of Bagram' - victim of torture or captured in a shootout? , The Guardian. August 6, 2006. 
  9. ↑ Outburst From Defendant in Afghan Shooting Trial
  10. ↑ Witnesses' accounts differ at Dr. Aafia's trial
  11. ^ Aafia lawyers reject court's ruling , The News. February 4, 2010.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / thenews.com.pk  
  12. ^ Ed Pilkington: Pakistani scientist found guilty of attempted murder of US agents , The Guardian. February 4, 2010. 
  13. ↑ 'Lady Al Qaeda' Aafia Siddiqui convicted of attempted murder . The New York Times . February 3, 2010. Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved on February 4, 2010.
  14. ↑ Aroosa Masroor: Dr Aafia Siddiqui's husband breaks his silence after six years , The News International (Pakistan). February 18, 2009. Accessed on May 13, 2010.  - Content no longer available
  15. ^ Proof of Dr Aafia's arrest submitted to court
  16. ↑ Ain Amenas gas field: kidnappers want to release Islamists from US custody . Spiegel online, January 17, 2012
  17. ↑ ISIS Demands $ 6.6M Ransomware for 26-Year-Old American Woman , accessed August 27, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Siddiqui, Aafia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pakistani neuroscientist
DATE OF BIRTH March 2nd 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH Karachi