NYC iniquity -- Aafia Siddiqui 86'd by Judge & Jury

September 23, 2010 ♥ Justice for Aafia Coalition

Today, as most of us are aware, Aafia Siddiqui was sentenced to
86 years in prison, having already spent seven and a half years detained and abused in US custody. We have all felt a surge of emotions – we united in our outrage and anger, both shocked and appalled, heartbroken and overwhelmed with tears.

At a recent event for Aafia Siddiqui, Adnan Rashid said that we do not need to cry for Aafia, meaning that Allah had honoured her and raised her rank through the tests she had endured. I silently concurred, ‘Yes - but we should be weeping over own ourselves’. We should be crying over whether we have an excuse before Allah, whether we have done anything or whether the little we've done has been sufficient.

Let us start to change that today.

1. The most modest estimates for an appeal in the US courts are $100,000, although Aafia’s defence could potentially run into the millions. Help us to reach our target of $200,000 by donating.

2. Official sources have claimed that the US will act on the Pakistani Interior Minister’s request to return Aafia to Pakistan but only after her sentencing. Keep up the pressure by writing to US Attorney General Eric Holder to express your outrage at the sentence and request Aafia's immediate repatriation to Pakistan.

Write to the Pakistani government - whilst we thank them for finally requesting her repatriation last weekend, it was effectively too little too late. They must demand the transfer of Aafia Siddiqui as a matter of urgency, to go some way to restore the considerable damage to their reputation and to quell the anger of the nation.

Some points to make:

· Aafia Siddiqui can be deported to Pakistan under the UN Convention for Exchange/Repatriation of Prisoners on Humanitarian Grounds.

· Reportedly, there are over 90 precedents in the legal history of the US where cases against such individuals were dropped on humanitarian or political grounds under the UN Convention.

· The case has become a matter of public concern in Pakistan and her repatriation to Pakistan would create goodwill for the US and restore Pakistan’s reputation at a time of immense anger and disappointment.

· Her two children have been separated from their mother for almost eight years. They are living in a constant state of uncertainty, which is having a significant impact on their health. As a result of today’s sentence they will effectively have no relationship with their mother and will never see her again, if they do not act

· The aging mother of Dr Aafia is suffering from depression and ill health

For addresses of who to contact and for previous sample letters click here

3. If you have not written words of support to Aafia's family before today, now is the time to do it. Email your messages to support@justiceforaafia.org

4. If you would like to help us to raise awareness then email info@justiceforaafia.org with the quantity of literature required, your name and full address.

5. Download this petition sheet and print it - fill it with signatures from amongst your friends, family, work colleagues, fellow students, at your mosque or faith group, Amnesty or STW group, at your circles and events you attend.

6. Help us to help Aafia by volunteering with JFAC today.

7. Write to Aafia to remind her that on this black day she is not forgotten. AAFIA SIDDIQUI # 90279-054, MDC BROOKLYN, METROPOLITAN DETENTION CENTER, P.O. BOX 329002, BROOKLYN, NY 11232

8. Do not forget Aafia in your supplications.

Aafia Siddiqui Sentenced:
A Grievous Miscarriage of Justice

by Stephen Lendman

On September 23 in federal court, US District Court Judge Richard Berman sentenced political prisoner Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years in prison. Outrage most accurately expresses this gross miscarriage of justice, compounding what she's already endured following her March 30, 2003 abduction, imprisonment, torture, prosecution, and conviction on bogus charges.

Earlier articles explained her case in detail, accessed through the following links:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2008/12/abduction-secret-detention-torture-and.html

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/02/aafia-siddiqui-victimized-by-american.html

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/03/aafia-siddiqui-victimized-by-american.html

In modern times, she's one of American depravity's most aggrieved victims, now given a virtual life sentence for a crime she didn't and couldn't have committed, explained in the above articles.

In recent months, she's been in New York's Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in maximum security solitary confinement, during her trial, conviction and September 23 sentencing. Importantly, her life was effectively destroyed by years of horrific tortures, repeated rapings, and other abuses in Bagram Prison at America's Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.

Addressing the court, said said "I'm not paranoid. I'm not mentally ill. I don't agree with" anyone saying so, though it's hard imagining why not after years of horrific brutalization. A Pakistani/American scientist, years of torture and abuse destroyed her persona, yet somehow she survived and endured more stress from prosecution, a travesty of a trial, conviction and sentencing.

Reporting on the court's decision, the BBC repeated government lies, including her possessing bomb making instructions to blow up New York landmarks - "evidence that she was a potentially dangerous terrorist." Yet her indictment was on totally different charges - preposterous ones accusing her of the following:

In the presence of two FBI agents, two Army interpreters, and three US Army officers, this frail 110 pound woman allegedly assaulted three of them, seized one of their rifles, opened fire at close range, hit no one, yet she alone was severely wounded.

At trial, no credible evidence was presented. The charges were concocted and bogus. None accused her of plotting to blow up New York or any other landmarks or facilities.

Yet proceedings were carefully orchestrated. Witnesses were enlisted, pressured, coerced, and/or bribed to cooperate. Jurors were then intimidated to convict, her attorney Elaine Whitfield Sharp, saying their verdict was "based on fear, not fact." No evidence was presented except claims government prosecutors invented to convict.

The International Tribune also highlighted today's proceedings, headlining "Dr. Aafia sentenced to 86 years imprisonment," saying:

It was on seven counts "for allegedly firing at US troops in Afghanistan." After the announcement, protests erupted across Pakistan. In Karachi, civil society and political party workers rallied "in front of the Karachi Press Club....ask(ing) the federal government" to intervene on her behalf.

Jamaat-e-Islami, PASBAN, Defense of Human Rights, and other civil society members marched toward the US Embassy, expressing outrage and demanding she be released "as a goodwill gesture."

"Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister Ms. Sharmila Farooqui asked the United States to release (her) on humanitarian (grounds) as a goodwill gesture to Pakistan....Now is the time for the US to show goodness and pardon a Pakistani woman who is innocent."

Farooqui said Aafia was wrongly abducted, then handed over to US authorities. She's "an innocent woman," outrageously treated, convicted and sentenced.

Explaining further she said:

"In Islam and Pakistan, handing over a woman to foreign countries is a sin, but it is a pity that an innocent woman was mercilessly given in(to the) hands of the (previous) US" government.

She also urged international human rights organizations to actively pursue her release.

A Final Comment

At issue is 9/11 truth, the subsequent bogus "war on terror" based on a lie, America's war on Islam that followed against Iraq, Afghanistan, and Muslim Americans, victimized for political advantage. Aafia is perhaps its most aggrieved living victim, her persona destroyed and life ended by a virtual life sentence unless clemency or world pressure saves her.

Her case should incite everyone's moral outrage. It also reveals America's true face, its rogue agenda, targeting Muslims for their faith and ethnicity, making us all equally vulnerable.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour