Press Release /Statement/ Dr. Afia Saddiqui

Free Kashmir No Indian Army

PAKISTAN USA FREEDOM FORUM 2257 92nd Street, East Elmhurst, NY 11369 Tel (718) 343-1653 or (718) 763-3543 Fax (718) 574-4333 E-mail: pakusaff@hotmail.com

Stop Dividing Families End the Raids and Deportations

Press Release /Statement September 4, 2008

We are standing in front of the U.S. Court House at 500 Pearl St. to demand justice for Dr. Afia Siddiqui. We are workers, students, lawyers, men and women, people of all religions and non-believers. What we have in common is that we believe in justice and are opposed to secret jails, renditions and torture.

Dr Siddiqui is a respected U.S Educated Pakistani neuroscientist. She was abducted by the Musharraf dictatorship when she visited her family in Karachi with her three young children in 2003, and for five years no one knew where they were. Finally, a British journalist broke the story of the lady crying in the Begram detention camp in Afghanistan, under U.S. occupation.

The made-up story by the U.S. government and bought without question by the press is unbelievable. While under interrogation by U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan on August 3, she is said to have grabbed a gun, shot at her interrogators and missed, while they shot her in the stomach. The charges against her were charged by FBI Director Mueller NYPD Commissioner Kelly, and remind one of the many murders of unarmed civilians by the NYPD who then claimed that they thought the victim had a gun. The Pakistan National Assembly recently adopted a unanimous resolution demanding Dr. Siddiqui’s immediate repatriation to Pakistan to ensure that there are no more violations of her human and judicial rights. It should be noted, Community will not welcome any Pakistani delegations consist of Musharaf dictatorship regarding Aafia /Guantanamo bay.

Dr. Afia’s bail hearing of Aug. 11 was postponed due to the fact she was not taken to a physician during the 8 days since she was shot and was too weak to move at the hearing. Her lawyer, Elizabeth Fink, has demanded that she be transferred to Bellevue Hospital where she can be treated by civilian doctors. Even though there were public appeals from Dr. Afia’s family and friends in Pakistan, the authorities did not take her to any doctor. Dr Aafia’s brother in USA and sister in Pakistan have worked hard and sacrificed everything in their power to help not only her sister but became the voice of other innocent civilians tortured in the name of terrorism.

This government has for years been lying to the people (weapons of mass destruction), by denying to the U.S. people, international human rights organizations and people all over the world that they hold prisoners like Dr. Siddiqui in secret jails abroad. It was only after the representative of the Pakistan – USA Freedom Forum exposed this at the immigrant rights rally on May 2006/07, that the government admitted the secret jails at U.S. and European bases around the world. The mass media here went along with these lies, as they also refused to expose the warrantless wiretapping they had known about for 1½ years.

This is the same government that carries out occupations around the world, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan and Somalia, in the interests of the big oil and other monopolies. It sells arms and supports reactionary dictators all over the world, such as Musharraf in Pakistan, and is surprised when it earns the hatred of people worldwide. And it is the same government that attacks immigrants and all workers at home, that allowed over a thousand of its own citizens to drown in Hurricane Katrina, that does nothing as millions are facing foreclosures on their homes and rising food and oil prices.

In the coming days, it is our job as citizens to continue the fight for justice, human and constitutional rights against renditions and torture, not only of Dr. Siddiqui but of all those unjustly detained.

Dr. Muhammad Shafique President

Mr. Shahid Comrade General Secretary (917) 280-0840