KARACHI:
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist incarcerated in a US prison, is expected to be released in the coming days, according to Professor Muhammad Iqbal Zaidi, a member of the delegation that recently visited the United States to lobby for her release.
In an interview with The Express PK Press Club, Dr Zaidi, a psychiatrist, said Dr Aafia was suffering from serious health complications. However, he hoped that outgoing US President Joe Biden would commute his sentence before leaving office on January 20.
He, however, added that if Biden does not act, the Pakistani government will work with new President Donald Trump to resolve the issue.
Dr Zaidi revealed that a three-member state-level delegation had visited the United States to advocate for the release of Dr Aafia.
Although they aimed to meet with President Biden, a visa delay prevented the meeting. Instead, the delegation held discussions with several U.S. senators and State Department officials to lobby for his release.
Furthermore, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had written to President Biden, urging him to grant Dr Aafia’s release on humanitarian grounds.
Dr. Aafia served 16 years in prison for attempted murder, a crime for which the maximum sentence under U.S. law is 10 years. However, she was given an unprecedented sentence of 86 years. Dr Zaidi pointed out that Dr Aafia has been separated from her children for 20 years.
“Although she is not well known in the United States, almost 99 percent of Pakistanis and many in the Muslim world know of her case,” Dr. Zaidi said.
He added that his release would improve America’s image among Pakistan’s 250 million citizens and the global Muslim population of 2 billion.
Dr. Zaidi, who personally examined Dr. Aafia at her isolation facility in Dallas, said she was in severe mental distress and suffering from various health problems.
He hoped that her health would improve if she was repatriated to Pakistan and provided with a supportive environment.
Dr Aafia was intercepted in Karachi in March 2003 while traveling with her three children. She disappeared for five years and it was later revealed in 2008 that she had been imprisoned in Afghanistan. She was then transferred to the United States.
Two of his children, Ahmed and Maryam, were released in 2008 and 2010 respectively, but the whereabouts of his son, Sulaiman, remain unknown.
