From: <peacethrujustice@aol.com>
Date: Sat, Aug 14, 2010 at 1:17 AM
Subject: [bangla-vision] Press release on British-American initiative for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui
From: Maryam Hassan <maryamhassan2003@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:23:46
To: <sara@peoplesmail.net>; <peacethrujustice@aol.com>; <msidd@mail.com>; <drfowzia@hotmail.com>; <ihtesham2@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: Draft Press Release
Activists Demand Aafia Siddiqui's Repatriation to Pakistan; International Signatories in Plea to US Attorney General
August 13th 2010
Contact: info@justiceforaafia.org
As Pakistan celebrates Independence Day, over 150 signatories call for the urgent repatriation of Aafia Siddiqui to Pakistan in an open letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder, drafted by the Justice for Aafia Coalition, as part of a coordinated transatlantic campaign of petitions.
Amongst the signatories of the letter published today are British parliamentarian Lord Nazir Ahmad, human rights lawyers Sir Geoffrey Bindman and Gareth Peirce, Imran Khan, former Chief Justices and the Grand Mufti of Pakistan.
At the start of a weekend of action, a delegation headed by the New York based International Action Center and the Peace Thru Justice Foundation will deliver a petition to the Pakistani Mission to the United Nations (8 East 65th St) at 12 noon on August 14th to the office of Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon. In Pakistan, activists will simultaneously hold a Free Aafia protest camp at the Quaid's Mausoluem. This will be followed by a day of protest in solidarity with Aafia Siddiqui outside the US embassy, London, organised by JFAC on August 15th, followed by a Lawyers' March in Pakistan before presenting a resolution to Prime Minister's House on Monday 16th August.
Fowzia Siddiqui, the sister of Aafia Siddiqui, stated:
"14th August 2010 marks the 8th year of independence celebration after the abduction of Aafia and her children and the continued captivity of Aafia and the unknown fate of Suleiman. It also marks the 9th year of torture, rendition and war-crimes committed in the name of a so called "war on Terror". Just as Aafia has been betrayed by those who were supposed to defend and protect her interests, even close relations, so too has this nation been betrayed by those who are supposed to uphold its interests, even those entrusted by sworn oaths. As the daughter is betrayed, so is the nation. The Pakistani people know that Aafia's fate is Pakistan's fate; if we fail her, we will fail ourselves."
Maryam Hassan, founder of the Justice for Aafia Coalition commented:
"As Dr Siddiqui enters her eighth Ramadan in solitary, since her disappearance in 2003, we are united with one voice, urging the governments of the U.S. and Pakistan to take urgent action to ensure that she is finally returned to her home country and to her family. This Kafkaesque nightmare has persisted for eight years too long."
Mauri' Saalakhan, Director of Operations for The Peace Thru Justice Foundation, heading the NYC delegation, said:
"Of all the cases I've dealt with, in the 25 years that I've been a human rights advocate, the case of this young Muslim woman has been the heaviest on my heart. When I think of the late Sen. Ted Stevens (who represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate for 40 years), I think of a once powerful American politician who, in the twilight of his otherwise impressive political career, was convicted of (and lost his senate seat as a result of) corruption; who later had his conviction vacated by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder because of prosecutorial misconduct. If Eric Holder can nullify the conviction of a once powerful republican politician, simply because of a tainted process, he should also be able to intervene in the wrongful prosecution of a Muslim woman who was clearly victimized by a far greater example of a tainted and fundamentally unjust process."
A copy of the open letter in support of Aafia Siddiqui can be downloaded at:
http://www.justiceforaafia.org/
The International Action Center's petition can be accessed at:
http://www.iacenter.org/SiddiquiPetition/
Details of the weekends' actions are listed here:
http://www.justiceforaafia.org/events/month.calendar/2010/08/13/-
_________________
Notes for editor:
1. The Justice for Aafia Coalition is an umbrella body for a number of organizations, groups, and activists created in February 2010 to campaign for the release and return of Aafia Siddiqui and for the opening of a full investigation into the circumstances of her detention and the whereabouts of her children.
2. The International Action Center is committed to the building broad-based grassroots coalitions to oppose to U.S. wars abroad while fighting against racism and economic exploitation of workers here at home.
The IAC has mobilized nationally against racist police brutality, to end the death penalty, and defense of political prisoners like Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier and the Cuban Five.
3. Aafia Siddiqui's lawyers maintain that she was abducted by the Pakistani and US agents along with her three children in 2003 and rendered to Afghanistan where she was detained by American forces for over five years. Siddiqui claims she was abused, raped and tortured throughout her detention. She was convicted in February 2010 of allegedly firing on US soldiers while in custody in what appears to have been a grave miscarriage of justice. She is due to be sentenced on September 23rd.
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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