MUSLIMS SHOULD TAKE STRONG STEPS

WE AS MUSLIMS CANNOT AACEPT THE CRUELTY ON MUSLIMS.SO AS MUSLIMS WE CANNOT ACCEPT THE ILLEGAL CASE OF MY SISITER AAFIA.ALL MUSLIMS SHOULD UNITE TOGETHER TO TAKE THE STRONG STEPS AGINST THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT SO THAT WE CAN SEE OUR AAFIA BACK IN OUR COUNTRY.AMERICA IS WELL KNOW WORST NATION OF THE WORLD SO AS MUSLIMS WE HAVE TO BE STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKR THE STEPS AGAINST AMERICAN JUDICIARY

ALL INTERNATIONAL LAWS ARE VIOLATED IN CASE OF AAFIA WHY?????

ALL THE INTERNATIONAL LAWS ARE VIOLATED IN CASE OF AAFIA AND THERE IS NO ONE TO ASK THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS FOR THIS CASE.I THINK ALL PEOPLE ARE LIVING THIER LIFE HAPPILY AND THERE IS NO ONE TO CONSIDER AAFIAS CASE.SO THE NEED OF THE HOUR IS TO IMPROVE THE SITUATUION BY OUR PROTESTS AGAIST THESE INTERNATIONALS ORGANIZATIONS. ALL THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ARE ONLY FRAUD.

MUSLIMS SHOULD BE UNITE TOGETHER TO GET OUR SISTER AFFIA

WE KNOW THE PRESENT SITUATION OF ALL THE MUSLIMS IN THE WORLD.ALL THE MUSLIMS ARE GET BACK FROM THE RACE OF NATIONS.THIS IS ALL DUE TO THE BAD POLICIES AND THE BAD BEHAVIOUR OF ALL THE CORRUPT GOVERNMENTS OF ALL THE MUSLIMS WORLD COUNTRIES.SO THE NEED OF THE TIME IS TO IMPROVE OUR RANKING BY UNITING TOGETHER SO THAT ALL MUSLIMS SHOULD NOT BE BEHAVED BAD IN THE WORLD.

WE CAN LIVE HAPPILY WITH OTHER NATIONS BUT OTHERS NOT WITH US WHY???

WE AS MUSLIMS CAN LIVE WITH OTHER NATIONS BUT OTHER NATIONS DONT BAHVE GOOD WITH MUSLIMS.ALL AMERICANS ARE NOT BEHAVING GOOD WITH MUSLIMS.WE KNOW EVERY PAKISTANI FEEL BAD IN SUCH COUNTRIES FOR THIER BAD BEHAVIOUR.SO THE NEED OF THE HOUR IS TO IMPROVE THE SITUATION BY ASKED THEM TO CHANGE THIER BEHAVIOUR.SO WE SHOULD UNITE TOGETHER TO IMPROVE THIS SITUATION

AMERICA HAS TO IMPROVE ITS BEHAVIOUR WITH MUSLIMS

AMERICA AND OTHERS EURPIONS ARE NOT BEHAVING GOOD WITH MUSLIMS.THEY PUT THEM INTO JAIL WITHOUT ANY PARTICULAR REASON.THEY ARE SO PROUD OF THIER GOOD RANKING AND WEALTH STATUS.THEY HAVE CREATED THE DISCRIMINATION WITH THE MUSLIMS.THEY ARE AT LARGE SCALE PRODUCING PROBLEMS FOR THE MUSLIMS.SO WE AS MUSLIMS SHOULD BE UNITE TOGTER TO GET OUR AAFIA SISITER BACK.AMERICAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD RELEASE AAFIA TO MAKE GOOD RELATIONS WITH THE MUSLIMS.

AMERICANS YOU ARE GOOD PLZE PUT YOUR ROLE IN AAFIAS CASE??

I KNOW AMERICAN GOVERNMENT IS NOT GOOD AND GOOD TO MUSLIMS BUT I HAVE A HOPE THAT ONE DAY ALL AMERICANS FEEL THAT AMERICAN GOVERNMENT IS NOT GOOD TO MUSLIMS .THEY WILL TRY THIERS BEST TO IMPROVE THE SITUATION.I HOPE THAT EVERY AMERICAN WILL HELP MUSLIMS TO GET INNOCENT AAFIAS BACK AND I ADVISES TO ALL AMERCANS TO PUT FREE OUR AAFIA AND THIER ROLE IN OUR STRUGGLE PLZE

WHY AMERICANS ARE BEHAVING BAD WITH MUSLIMS????

I KNOW SOME AGENCIES WANT TO DESTROY OUR HOLY ISLAM BUT WE ARE SO SORROWFUL AT THE GOOD RESPONSE OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE TO THESE AGENCIES.SO I WANT TO CLEAR TO ALL AMERICANS THAT PLZE BEHAVE GOOD WITH MUSLIMS AND CONSIDER IT THIER CASE OF AAAFIA .IT IS SO SHAMEFUL TO EVERY AMERICAN THAT IN THE WHOLE WORLD AMERICA IC LOSING ITS DIGNITY

WHY EUROPE IS AGAINST ISLAM BUT WEARE NOT AGAINST THIER RELIGIONS???

EUROPE IS SO AGAINST THE ISLAM NO ONE CAN IMAGINE IT.BUT WE AS MUSLIMS DONT HURT THIER FEELINGS SOME PEOPLE SAY MUSLIMS AS TERRORISTS BUT WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS BUT WE WANT PEACE ON EARTH.SOMEONE WANTS TO DESTROY ISLAM BY THIER PLOTTING IN PAKISTAN AND PUT IT ON MUSLIMS.WE AS MUSLIMS DONT HURT ANY ONE BUT EUROPE HAS NO RIGHT TO DESTROY OUR FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS.THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK UPON OUR RELIGION AND TEACHINGS.I HOPE EUROPE WILL CHANGE ITS POLICY ONE DAY

AMERICANS ARE NOT SINCERE WITH MUSLIMS BUT NOT SAME WITH MUSLIMS WHY??

I KNOW AMERICANS ARE NOT SINCERE WITH MUSLIMS THAT THEY WANT TO DESTROY OUR CULTURE THEY GAD THE SENSE OF ABUSING OUR GREAT AND HOLY PROPHETS BUT MUSLIMS NOT ABUSE THIER GODS AND OTHER PERSONS OF THIER RELIGIONS BUT THEN WHY THEY HAD THE SENSE OF ABUSING MUSLIMS.WE AS MUSLIMS DONT HURT THEM BUT THEY HURT US BY THIER BADS IDEAS AND POLICIES

WE ARE NOT AGAINST AMERICANS BUT THEY FORCED US FOR THAT????

I KNOW WE AS MUSLIMS CAN NEVER HATE OTHERS BUT AT SOME POINTS WE ARE FORCED TO DO THAT .AS MUSLIMS WE CAN NOT SEE SOMEONE TO ABUSE OUR PROPHETS.SO NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO BURN OUR HOLY QURAN.SO IN ATRUE SENSE I KNOW AMERICANS ARE A GOOD NATION BUT SOME UGLY FISHES ARE ALSO THERE TO DESTROY OUR CULTURE.

pakistani nation has potential to get aafia free

I KNOW PAKISTANI NATION IS SO SELFISH NOW BUT PAKISTANI NATION IS ALSO SO BEAUTIFULLY CREATED BY MY GOD THAT THEY HAVE THE SENSE OF NATIONS DIGNITY AND PRIDE.SO ICAN CONFIRM U THAT PAKISTANI NATON WILL ONE DAY GET AAFIA FREE.BUT THE SITUTION IS NOT IMPROVING NO ONE THINK ABOUT AAFIA BUT IAM SURE THAT ONE DAY SHE WILL BE GET FREE BY OUE EFFORTS AND STRUUGGLE

I THINK MUSLIMS ARE SO SELFISH NOW???

AMERICA I KNOW IS THE THE WORST COUNTRY OF THE WORLD BUT MUSLIMS ARE ALSO BEHAVING SO SELFISHLY THAT IS SO SORROWFUL FOR ALL OF US.I THINK AMERICA IS THE WORST COUNTRY BUT MUSLIMS SHOULD BE UNITE NOW FOR THE AAFIA NAD EVERY SITUATION OF THE MUSLIMS.AMERICA HAS NO RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR AND OTHERS AFFAIRS.

PAKISTANI JUDICIARY IS DOING NOTHING FOR AAFIA ITS SO RIDICULOUS WHY IT IS?????

I THINK PAKISTANI JUDICIARY HAS NO RIGHT TO DO ANY THING.THEY ARE THERE IN COURTS TO COLLECT MONEY THEY ARE SO SELFISH ABOUT THE MATTER OF AAFIA .PAKISTANI POLITICS ARE I KNOW CULPRITS AND AMERICAS PEOPLE BUT WHY JUDICIARY IS DOING NOTHING.IT IS A SORROWFUL SITUATION FOR US AND OUR JUDICIARY.AMERICA HAS NOTHING RIGHT TO BEHAVE INHUMANLY WITH AAFIA.AAFIA WILL BE BROUGT TO PAKISTAN AT EVERY COST IAM SAYING U AT EVERY COST WE WILL TAKE OUR AAFIAS BACK BUT PAKISTAN JUDICIARY HAS NO ROLE IN THAT

WHY AMERICANS ARE SO CRUEL TO MUSLIMS WHYY????

I WANT TO ASK AMERICANS WHY THEY ARE SO CRUEL O MUSLIMS.WE HAVE NAT HIT THEM.THEY PUT DOWN THIER TOWERS SELFELY IN THIER RESPORTS BUT THEY WANT TO KILL ALL OF THE INNOCENTS PAKISTANIS.WHY THEY HAVE HIT MY SISITER AAFIA.I KNOW THAT IN AMERICA THERE IS NO SISTERS CONCEPTS BUT THEY SHOULD AGGRY TO MY POINT THEY ARE CRUEL TO A MAXIMUM EXTENT.IS IAM TRUE OR NAT IS IAM NOT TRUE THEN GIVE ME REASONS.AMERIACNSARE A ABD NATION IN MY CONCEPTS THEY HAVE NOTHING GOOD MANNERS.ALL THEY DO SELFLY AND PUT THE PLOTTING ON MUSLIMS.

PAKISTANI POLITICS SHOULD TAKE SUICIDE I THINK??

I THINK PAKISTANI POLITICS ARE HERE IN PAKISTAN TO COOLECT MONEY NO ONE HAVE THE FEAR OF GOD ONE HEAR MY SISTER AAFIS .WHY PAKISTANI POLITICS ARE SO CRUEL TO AAFIA MY SISTER WHY THEY SOLD HIM TO RUBBISH NATION THE NATION WHO HAS DISCRIMINATION OF MUSLIMS

AMERICA HAS THE POWER OF EVERYTHING BUT MUSLIMS HAVE NONE WHY?????

I THINK EMERICA HAS THE POWER OF EVERTHING (TO KILL TO PUT IN JAILS ).AMERICA HAS THE SPECIFIC BEHVIOUR WITH MUSLIMS ONLY.AMERICA PUT DOWN HIS TOWERS SELFELY BUT BLAME MUSLIMS BY PLOTTING WITH JEWS .AMERICA PEOPLE I THINK ARE GOOD BUT AMERICA GOVERNMENT IS AGAINST THE MUSLIMS I WANT TO ASK AMERICA PEOPLE WHY IT IS???

NO JUDGES IN PAKISTAN ASKS ABOUT AAFIA WHY?????

IN PAKISTAN JUDGES HAVE THE RIGHT OF EVERYTHING.THEY CAN PUT NOBLE PERSONS IN JAIL AND THEY CAN ALSO RELEASE THE CULPRIT PERSONS BUT NO ONE ASKS HIM REASONS FOR IT BUT ALLAH.NO JUDGE INCLUDINY (HERO OF LAWERS MOVEMENT IFTIKHAR)HAVE NOTHING ASKS ABOUT AAFIA WHY SOMEONE NOT ASKS HIM WHY??????????

pakisstani lawers are not loyal but earn thier income

Everyone know about avery president of pakistan whether now or back but lawyers can do nothing to them.The lawers movement was just for fun no judge now catch mr zardari iam asking judges of my hounarable courts why.Every judge have to answer to allah but no one have the power to catch presidents or upper class people why???????

pakistan justice is only for upper class

last time when ienter the highcourt of lahore pakistan i was amazed to see everything every judge and every reader and people involved in judiciary was so proud at his job.They consider other people poor and lower class in rank they consider other people thier servants and they are also do nothing good with my country.They are not sincere with thier counry.UPPer class people can take justice easily which is not fair in islam

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui Case – A Detailed Story of Lies And Deception By The Americans

We have regularly covered Dr. Aafia case at Pro-Pakistan. We have highlighted the injustices done to her and her family by the Americans in a completely one sided trial. However, the current article is just another effort to share with our readers how this whole drama unfolded till date and how the media reported it. The reason we chose this day is because of the fact that today the American court is again holding another purported trial of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. The irony is that the current case against her rest on a crime she committed after being arrested by the Americans in Afghanistan in 2008. Or at least that is how Americans put it while the reality is that she was arrested in 2003 by FBI agents in Karachi, Pakistan.
The arrest news was spread in the national and international media and here is just one instance of NBC5 quoting the story back in 2003. According to NBC5, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is in US custody:
U.S. intelligence officials are reportedly interrogating a Pakistani woman alleged to have moved funds and assisted with logistics planning for al-Qaida. FBI Seeking Siddiqui According to the Press Trust of India in an article published on its Web site Thursday, the woman has been identified as 31-year-old Aafia Siddiqui, who was being sought by U.S. officials last week along with two other men, including one whose last known address was in Miramar, Fla.
According to the PTI, Siddiqui was arrested in Karachi recently after returning from an overseas trip last month. The service quoted reports in the Boston Globe and Oklahama (TV) News Channel’s Web site.
The FBI had issued a worldwide alert for Siddiqui, already said this … ‘a housewife and mother of three who holds a doctorate in neurological science and degrees from Braindeis University and M.I.T. ) Siddiqui reportedly lived in Boston with her husband for several years.’
NBC News reported last week that senior U.S. officials that Siddiqui may be a so-called “fixer” for al-Qaida and not an actual member. According to those reports, Siddiqui may have been used by the organization move money and provide other logistical support. One official said, “The Intel indicates that she is tied to some very radical individuals in Pakistan.”
Now here is the problem, the American kept her under rigorous detention in Bagram jail (Afghan equivalent of Guantanamo Prison) and were not accepting her presence until the story was shared by ex inmates of the jail to the media. She was constantly tortured for 5 years and was sexually and physically abused each and every day for 5 consecutive years while the American put their best resources at work to find a single flaw in her past. Ironically, they failed to find a single wrong in her past and hence Americans were in a fix how to get rid of her.
The real problem started after the press conference in Pakistan by British journalist Yvonne Ridley in which she shared the story of the Prisoner 650, the gray Ghost lady of Bagram prison. In the mean while, we must keep this in mind that Western media left no stone unturned to label her the big catch of Al Qaeda in the hands of the Americans while Americans themselves couldn’t prove a single instance of her involvement in terrorist activities in their 5 years of non stop search for something (anything) to implicate her and save their face.
After Yvonne Ridley’s press conference, it became evident that Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is the unfortunate soul to bear the brunt of the worst kind of treatment in the modern history of the world. A well educated lady was made to suffer 5 years of non stop physical and sexual abuse at the hands of American military and intelligence officials.
The issue of Prisoner 650 became public and every media house in the world started giving it coverage and soon protesters came out on the roads in several Pakistani cities and in few Western countries for her release. The American intelligence agency, who failed to find any evidence against Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, however was quick to stage a stupid drama, that speaks volumes about their thinking patterns. Even hollywood movie writer would have done a better job then the drama script written by the American intelligence agencies. Here is how Dr. Aafia emerged again from the Bagram Prison in front of the World. This is the story some dumb ass American intelligent agent wrote (PS: US agent! please don’t mind my language but trust me your script sucks! At least try to watch 24 and come out with something better next time). And i am quoting direct American biased justice department source so that you know how they report such dramas on thir website to impress their own citizens.
According to website of the US Justice Department:
NEW YORK- Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Mark J. Mershon, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (”FBI”), and Raymond W. Kelly, the Police Commissioner of the City of New York, announced today the arrest of Aafia Siddiqui on charges related to her attempted murder and assault of United States officers and employees in Afghanistan. Siddiqui arrived in New York this evening and will be presented tomorrow before a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
According to the Complaint filed in Manhattan federal court:
On July 17, 2008, officers of the Ghazni Province Afghanistan National Police (”ANP”) observed Siddiqui outside the Ghazni governor’s compound. ANP officers questioned Siddiqui, regarded her as suspicious, and searched her handbag. In it, they found numerous documents describing the creation of explosives, as well as excerpts from the Anarchist’s Arsenal. Siddiqui’s papers included descriptions of various landmarks in the United States, including in New York City. Siddiqui was also in possession of substances that were sealed in bottles and glass jars.
On July 18, 2008, a party of United States personnel, including two FBI special agents, a United States Army Warrant Officer, a United States Army Captain, and United States military interpreters, arrived at the Afghan facility where Siddiqui was being held. The personnel entered a second floor meeting room — unaware that Siddiqui was being held there, unsecured, behind a curtain.
The Warrant Officer took a seat and placed his United States Army M-4 rifle on the floor next to the curtain. Shortly after the meeting began, the Captain heard a woman yell from the curtain and, when he turned, saw Siddiqui holding the Warrant Officer’s rifle and pointing it directly at the Captain. Siddiqui said, “May the blood of [unintelligible] be directly on your [unintelligible, possibly head or hands].” The interpreter seated closest to Siddiqui lunged at her and pushed the rifle away as Siddiqui pulled the trigger. Siddiqui fired at least two shots but no one was hit. The Warrant Officer returned fire with a 9 mm service pistol and fired approximately two rounds at Siddiqui’s torso, hitting her at least once.
Despite being shot, Siddiqui struggled with the officers when they tried to subdue her; she struck and kicked them while shouting in English that she wanted to kill Americans. After being subdued, Siddiqui temporarily lost consciousness. The agents and officers then rendered medical aid to Siddiqui. Can anyone imagine why someone Siddiqui, a 36-year-old Pakistani woman who previously resided in the United States, is charged in a criminal Complaint filed in the Southern District of New York with one count of attempting to kill United States officers and employees and one count of assaulting United States officers and employees. If convicted, Siddiqui faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each charge.
Just try to see a logic behind the purported story shared with the world by the Americans! What Dr. Aafia was doing outside Governor house? Trying to gather intelligence? Trying to blow it up? Trying to get herself arrested? Or just roaming around for a morning or evening walk? In any of the above cases, can you tell me why will she take with her the method of making bombs in her handbag? Was she sitting in some park where she was trying to prepare her lecture or was she trying to memorize some new techniques in the open? Or was she just keeping them in her bag to make sure when she is arrested, she provide enough evidence against her arrest to the government to use it against her?
Moreover, she was also carrying landmarks of American buildings etc etc etc! I wonder if anyone would really need landmarks in this modern era? Don’t you think we have a lot more public information available even to a primary kid on the internet and hence there is no need to carry it with you.
Moreover, why would she carry these things with her when she was roaming around Governor palace in Afghanistan? Was she on way to airport to land directly at JFK? Or was there not enough space in her home to keep that documents? A logical mind fail to see a relation in those two set of documents inside the bag of a lady strolling for morning walk in the peaceful and serene streets of war torn Afghanistan! Sounds interesting! Lets see what else she got? Okies! She got some SUBSTANCE (i repeat SUBSTANCE) that was sealed inside a jar and some bottles! Now this has further complicateed the already very tough case here! Can anyone of my reader guide us all here? Because i am lost here! What do you mean by “SUBSTANCE?” Is chocolate a substance or is cookies counted as substance? Do you also count sweets as Substance? If not then share with us what does “SUBSTANCE” stands for? And why would an evening or morning stroller keep these in her bag when she was actually on a picnic in the serene city of Afghanistan? May be she could use it to blow up the Governor’s palace? Or may be she could eat it? I don’t know but it is beyond my level of intellect and I need guidance from our readers since they might have a clue!
The irony is that Americans are trying to tell the world that their dumb story is based on facts while a mere search on internet will confirm our concerns about the real drama run by someone sitting in Langley or Pentagon. Here is how a famous Pakistani newspaper reported a story where an Intelligence Official admitted arresting Dr. Aafia in 2003 and handing her over to American FBI while the same FBI claims to have captured her in 2008 in Afghanistan. This is on the record of a Pakistani court and hence enjoys a legal status unlike Americans provided evidence that only exist in their own records and not to be shared with anyone in the world.
She was later shifted to America where she is facing court trial for a crime she never committed in America at first place. Even the American FBI and Intelligence officials failed to provide the evidence of her finger prints on the gun she supposedly used to shoot her investigators and the interpreters. Even no bullets were recovered from the room which she allegedly fired at the Americans. Here is a link to the details of the court hearing.
According to Yvonne Ridley, who first shared her story with the world, there is some senior ranking American intelligence official responsible for all the debacle since it was his authority to sign the papers authorising her kidnapping, rendition, five years of non stop torture and then keeping her in jail without sharing the details. Even the way she was reproduced is done on the orders of the same intelligence official who is sitting on the most important position in the American intelligence network. He is still using all his available resources to cover his tracks but i think now the thing has gone out and the decision rests with the American Judiciary. The trial of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui has gained tremendous support in USA itself and people from the length and breadth of America have come to the court to witness it despite the fact that the judge changed the dates constantly to create confusion and to bring down the case profile.
The case will be presented today at a US Court. According to the Dawn story.
The trial of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani neuroscientist under US detention, will begin today in New York City after jury selection was completed last week A JA jury of seven women and five men were chosen on Thursday, with four alternate jurors. Dr Aafia had earlier objected over the composition of the jury.
She is accused of trying to kill US Army officers — who were interrogating her in Afghanistan in July 2008, a charge vehemently denied by her.
No one was hit in the alleged shooting incident, but she was shot twice in the stomach.
Dr. Aafia has repeatedly said she will boycott her own trial and has even disowned the lawyers retained for her defence by the Pakistan government.
Meanwhile, the lead lawyer for Dr. Aafia said that her legal defence team will fight for her acquittal with a strong case it has built over the past four months.
Lets see how long this drama goes on and to what extent the American Intelligence official, backed by other powerful American politicians, goes to hide the crimes he committed against an innocent woman and her family. The outcome of the case is very important since the eyes of the world Muslim population and those who believe in the American justice system are fixed on this case as a benchmark.
Let’s see if Justice prevails in the Wild Wild West!

Capital punishment is cruel and unusual

By Chris Dodson, Alligator Columnist, the independent florida alligator

An eye for an eye.

This way of thinking can be traced back to the Code of Hammurabi, a set of Babylonian law codes from about 1792 B.C. These codes stated, among other things, “If a man puts out the eye of an equal, his eye shall be put out.”

The sad thing is, nearly 4,000 years later in the U.S. we are still using a version of these codes in the form of capital punishment.

Capital punishment, more often referred to as the death penalty, is still on the books in 37 states in this country. Only two states have ruled it unconstitutional by their state Supreme Courts.

The Supreme Court of the United States has heard capital punishment arguments on multiple occasions and has ruled both ways in the past.

For those at home who don’t quite remember the Eighth Amendment, it’s that kind-of-important part of the Constitution that grants you security from cruel and unusual punishment from the government.

I find it hard to believe anyone would try to say death is not cruel.

But what about unusual? Every major superpower in Europe has eliminated the death penalty, so to these countries, I suppose capital punishment would be quite unusual.

In fact, with the exception of Latvia and Belarus, Europe is entirely capital punishment free. That even includes Russia, which currently has a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

To really drive the point home, the U.S. is one of only three industrialized democracies in the world to still have capital punishment, and one of those other two currently has a moratorium on its use as well. That seems pretty unusual to me.

We also have to deal with the possibility of an innocent person being convicted of murder and being executed. If an innocent individual is convicted but sentenced to life without parole, then there’s a possibility once the truth is discovered they can be released. But if they have already been executed, well, there’s not a whole lot one can do about it.

Don’t think that’s all that common? Since 1973 there have been 138 people released from death row after new evidence proved their innocence.These are the lucky people who had their innocence proved before their execution happened.

In this economy, we’re all looking for any way possible to save a few bucks here and there. If only the government would take that approach too. Replacing capital punishment with a sentence of life without parole would save quite a bit of money.

In a report issued from our very own UF, the average cost of an execution in Florida is $3.2 million, as opposed to the $600,000 it would cost to keep that same person in jail for life. Those are millions of dollars that could be put to good use in these downtrodden economic times.

So wait, we would be improving our country socially and economically by not killing more people? It seems way too good to be true.

Can a Muslim get a Fair Trial in USA? Andrew Khun Reports from Lahore, Pakistan

This short report gives a nutshell Pakistan reaction to the sentencing of Aafia Siddiqui Thursday, including comment by Dr. Aafia's sister and one by a leader of peoples' rights in Pakistan.

Most worth following up is the question raised - perhaps especially after the trial and now the sentencing by Dr. Aafia Siddiqui as to the possibilities of justice in America.

Look for plenty more discussions and Op Eds on this urgent question in the days ahead.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the true colors of many Americans are coming out more than ever as shown by the various Comments to the Op Ed/ Reports and more in American media of all sorts. Those who are corporate-controlled are especially suspect to much independent journalism.

At least we do have that all too short report from Andrew Khun and exposure of some brutal as well as some enlightened comments from his employer, NPR.org as indicated in the following URLS and in the posts just below this one on this oneheartforpeace site as well as on No More Crusades site.

Reaction to Aafia Siddiqui's Sentencing - by Stephen Lendman

I'm leaving the links in as they are to simplify sending/filing. Parenthesis are mine to help emphasize/clarify certain points for those newer to this case. Connie - oneheartforpeace blogger

Reaction to Aafia Siddiqui's Sentencing - by Stephen Lendman

On September 23, the FBI headlined, "Aafia Siddiqui Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 86 Years for Attempting to Murder US Nationals in Afghanistan and Six Additional Crimes." More on its press release below.

No matter that she's completely innocent, and has been a US political prisoner since her March 30, 2003 abduction, incarceration, torture, prosecution, and conviction on bogus charges. Her case is one of America's most egregious examples of horrific abuse and injustice, climaxed by her virtual life sentence for an alleged crime she never committed.

Yet she was convicted for these claimed felonies:

(1) one count of trying to kill US nationals outside the US;

(2) one count of trying to kill US officers and employees;

(3) one count of armed assault of US officers and employees;

(4) one count of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and

(5) three counts of assault of US officers and employees.

Earlier articles about her can be 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

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/09/aafia-siddiqui-sentenced-grievous.html

...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.

It was her word against theirs. At trial, no credible evidence was presented, because there was none, not even her fingerprints on the alleged weapon. The charges were concocted, bogus and absurd, not even rising to the level of a bad film plot, yet jurors were intimidated to convict.

(Aafia Siddiqui was) home visiting her family in 2003 when local authorities abducted her at the behest of Washington, after which she was handed over and incarcerated at America's infamous Bagram Prison, Afghanistan.

Yet the FBI statement says: "SIDDIQUI was detailed (on July 17, 2008) by Afghan authorities," who found alleged incriminating items "in her possession" about a "mass casualty attack" planned against high-profile New York targets. "Other notes....referred to the construction of 'dirty bombs,' (and) ways to attack 'enemies,' including by destroying reconnaissance drones, using underwater bombs, and deploying gliders."

Yet these charges weren't in her indictment, exposing them as spurious. Instead, on July 18, 2008, she was accused of allegedly disarming and attacking seven armed Americans during interrogation.

Rampaging Imperial America

Post-9/11, America (in essence) declared war on Islam to justify rampaging globally, focused heavily on Eurasia's mineral wealth, principally Middle Eastern oil, comprising two-thirds of the world's proved reserves.

Abroad, illegal imperial wars and occupations followed. At home, Muslims have been victimized, vilified, and persecuted for their faith, ethnicity, prominence, and activism - opportunistically targeted for political advantage. They've been singled out, hunted down, rounded up, held in detention, kept in isolation, denied bail, brutally tortured, restricted in their right to counsel, tried on secret evidence, convicted on bogus charges, given long sentences, and incarcerated as political prisoners or extraordinarily renditioned to a similar or worse fate abroad.

Victims are innocent pawns in the war on terror, mocking the rule of law, judicial fairness, and democratic freedoms - the modus operandi of rogue states, calling wars of aggression liberating ones, suppressing civil liberties for our own good, and rampaging globally for alleged "democratic freedoms," ones America won't tolerate at home or abroad.

US v. Pakistani Media Reports

After her sentencing, US media reports highlighted bogus government charges, ignoring the truth and Aafia's horrific treatment. CBS, for example, affirmed allegations that she's an "Al Qaeda supporter" and "cold-blooded radical." CNN noted her "Anarchist's Arsenal." ABC News called her "Lady Qaeda."

Wall Street Journal writer Chad Bray referred to her alleged "mass casualty attack" plan on New York landmarks, and for Rupert Murdoch's New York Post, she's a "terror mom (and) reputed Al Qaeda associate," a Bruce Golding headline saying, "Judge throws book at Pakistani plotter....'terror mom' has been eighty-sixed."

Note the difference in Pakistan. The entire country is outraged - in Karachi (Aafia's home city), Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Lehore, Quetta, Peshawar, Multan, and elsewhere.

Dawn.com headlined "Pakistanis furious over Aafia Siddiqui's sentence," saying:

In Karachi, "Pakistanis burned tires, (Obama effigies), and chanted anti-US slogans after a New York (hanging) judge handed down an 86-year sentence" on bogus charges. Her case "has long stirred passions in Pakistan....where anti-American sentiment is (deservedly) widespread."

"Many Pakistanis believe the US abducted Siddiqui and kept her in a secret prison for years as it pursued its war on terror." News of her "harsh sentence immediately sparked anger and disbelief." In Peshawar, angry protestors burned tires and shouted "Down with America!" Pakistan's president and prime minister were also named, and "Some hit a portrait of....Obama with their shoes."

Islamabad students were also outraged, shouting "Crush America, Siddiqui is our sister," and "We will bring her back."

More in Multan where dozens of lawyers and activists blocked traffic, shouting "Down with America," and burning effigies of Obama and former Pakistani despot Pervez Musharra.

In Peshawar, thousands of political, social, and religious activists protested on city streets, holding banners and placards condemning the sentence. They demanded Aafia's release and end to US Waziristan drone attacks.

A supportive Pakistan Times editorial called America "an authoritarian, arrogant superpower," and Aafia's sentence "unheard of....people will be waiting to see how (Obama reacts). Only time will tell if the US president will step in to mitigate (this outrage) by either pardoning Dr. Aafia or sending her back to Pakistan to serve at least part of her sentence in her home country."

"Dr. Aafia may very well become the poster-child for increased hatred against the US and more sympathy for the militants," a possibility both countries should consider.

Aafia's sister, Fauzia, called the sentence "a slap in the face of our rulers, who have pledged and made promises to bring" her back.

Addressing a supportive rally, she said they failed miserably to help Aafia. "The sentence bears testimony to the fact that this government is a puppet of the US. We are peaceful people, and our aim is to bring back Aafia."

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit expressed "disappoint(ment with) the sentence and sad that our efforts....did not succeed. We are still in touch with the US administration to see what possible options are available. We are not giving up." At issue is whether they ever tried, given the ties between the countries "in the fight against Terrorist militancy...."

The International Tribune reported that Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik said government efforts "will surely bring (her back), but it needs time to do it."

Pakistan's US ambassador, Hussain Haqqani, said "the government took every possible step for (her) safe release," adding that efforts will continue.

Pakistan's Jamiat Uleme-e-Islam Party (JUI) chief, Fazalur Rehman, cancelled his US trip in protest, saying "the punishment of Doctor Aafia has added to the list of American crimes, and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said he, too, "would make all efforts for Dr. Aafia's release," adding that "the entire nation was praying for her safe return."

Tekreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Party chairman, Imran Khan, condemned the verdict as "unethical and inhuman," warning it could inflame the entire Muslim world. He also announced launch of a countrywide protest, saying Pakistanis won't tolerate this outrage.

"Aafia is the daughter of the nation," he said, "and all-our efforts should be made for her early return." PTI plans protest rallies, seminars and meeting throughout the country, its campaign to continue until Affia's back home.

Farooq Sattar, Parliamentary leader of Pakistan's third largest political party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), condemned Aafia's sentence, announced protests, and said MQM officials would meet with America's ambassador to demand her release. MQM head, Altaf Hussain, also wants her released and sent home, saying, if in power, MQM "would have immediately severed ties with the US and its allies...."

In America, Aafia's a "terrorist," in Pakistan a national hero, at least on the country's streets, if not the halls of power, despite the above rhetoric.

For their part, Aafia's family vowed to launch a "movement" for her release, Fauzia telling reporters that all of Pakistan would agitate for her. "I was alone when I started the campaign to release my sister, but from now on it will be the Aafia movement as the whole nation is with me."

Qazi Muhammad, Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president asked "Why is our individual and collective conscience as a nation silent on the maltreatment of Dr. Aafia, the daughter of the nation?" He said an SCBA delegation would meet with her family, and offered to defend her in the US pro bono.

Responses from Human Rights Groups

The International Justice Network (ICN - supporting human rights globally, including Aafia's family) issued a press release, saying:

"Dr. Aafia Siddiqui - who has never caused harm to anyone - has now been condemned to spend the rest of her life in a (US) maximum security prison....This sentence is not only unjust because of its harshness, (but) also because of its impact on her....children....who may never see their mother again. But the greatest injustice....is that those who are responsible for the kidnapping, disappearance, and abuse of Dr. Siddiqui and her children without cause have yet to answer for their actions."

"The International Justice Network stands in solidarity with the international community in condemning this unfair and unjust result in Dr. Siddiqui's case."

Dr. Mehdi Hasan, chairperson of The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) issued the following statement:

America must "assess the impact of the unusually harsh punishment awarded to (Aafia), particularly in view of the absence of direct and credible evidence against her."

In fact, there's none.

It's also a red herring for the US embassy to say Pakistan must sign two international treaties relating to prisoner exchanges before Aafia can be returned - the Council of Europe Treaty and OAF Convention. In fact, reversing her sentence and repatriating her is as simple as doing it, an Obama stroke of the pen sending her home. It's time for Pakistan's government to put its muscle where it's rhetoric is and demand nothing less, suspending diplomatic relations until done.

A Final Comment

On September 11, 2001, America declared "war on terror" based on a lie, then used it as justification to rampage globally. Thereafter, democratic freedoms weakened or disappeared, and Muslims became the target of choice. A war on Islam followed.

Stereotypically called culturally inferior, dirty, lecherous, untrustworthy, religiously fanatical, and violent, they've been prejudicially called Islamofascists, "terrorists," or a homeland fifth column. Their fate became summary judgment - no due process, judicial fairness, or innocent unless proved guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt by an impartial jury of their peers.

Aafia is their poster child, an innocent woman brutalized and condemned to spend the rest of her life in maximum security confinement, meant for America's "worst of the worst" criminals. The facilities are extremely harsh. They crush the human spirit, body and mind, in Aafia's case even more than already after seven and a half brutalizing years.

More is now planned for the rest of her life unless world outrage saves her, no easy task given the Obama administration's contempt for the rule of law, human rights and justice, as roguish as Bush officials.

That alone should incite everyone's moral outrage. Aafia's case adds an exclamation point!

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.

An Open Letter to President Obama on Behalf of Dr. Aafia Siddiui

Write your own letter to the Presidents online GO to:
http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/support.php?ua=UAU-049-2008-1

Please Sign the ONLINE PETITION (editing is welcome) CLICK here

(Sent with consideration for Dr. Aafia's children, your children, Pakistani children, American children and children around the world who need peace and justice.)

Dear President Obama,

A leader who knows the Rule of Law:

What an unbelievable, unjust and cruel sentence has now been added to the suspicious arrest, charge and kangaroo trial of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

What kind of legacy is being left by our US administration and all involved in this case - including that left by a Judge Richard Berman - who's conduct has been anything but honorable in this case?

Since you probably by now know the details - and/or will be receiving them multiple times - I will skip most elaborations.

Note that Dr. Siddiqui was detained in a facility used by the American government to hold persons suspected of being agents of Al Qaida.

Find out who may be guilty of planting the crazy evidence in her bag to begin with as I'm sure you could find out if anyone is able to do so. Why not go to the top and find that "someone" who has been known to do or direct similar acts of deceit. (Many of our American US military/FBI/CIA and contractors officials over this entire "war on terror" have records of the same many miles long.)

Although she has testified in open court about her detention in Bagram it has never been properly explained by the FBI. Dr. Aafia and her family - as well as all concerned Americans and Pakistanis - need a FULL explanation.

There are many discrepancies with the case as put forward by this our (and your) American government officials. They have never been able to properly explain how a woman, weakened by five years of imprisonment and mistreatment - and between 90-100 pounds - was able to wrestle a weapon away from a fully-trained soldier. No Americans were actually injured in the incident but they found it necessary to shoot her.

Dr. Siddique was shot during the incident and was not given the necessary medical treatment for some months. Where is the humane and truthful explanation for this?

Why did we hear about these events when the Asian Human Rights Commission issued its first Urgent Appeal on July 24, 2008 yet not before by our own governments? Why did the FBI wait until after the publication of this appeal on July 24, 2008 to announce that she had been arrested on July 17, 2008? Finally, why have there been no explanations as to her whereabouts after she was arrested in March 2003? Where is the actual, factual and complete justification for this silence?

Why were the two returned children only found after much international protest raised the issue? Where is the third? How can your government and military leaders have allowed the third missing child to be missing so long without any written explanation? What is your explanation now? We need answers.

Why has Aafia been denied contact with members of her family and her lawyers? Why was Aafia kept in a prison in Texas known to have a dark history of mistreatment of women including rape?

Such ongoing silence, mistreatment and the complete lack of any reasonable or scientific evidence for her indictment, the questionable behavior of the judge during the trial and more are without conscience.

Therefore I urge President Obama to grant her amnesty. We are longing to see and know such a tangible indication that such an entity as justice still exists in our land. Finally, we need such a response to Dr. Aafia's case to demonstrate that a Muslim can indeed be treated fairly in these United States.

I also urge President Zadari to to see that his American counterpart grants
Dr. Siddiqui the amnesty she deserves. Such foundational response to these injustices are urgently needed. Our citizens in both America and Pakistan are in great need of peace between our peoples. Such an act of amnesty and the push by you for the same would go a long way to help heal the growing breaches and hostilities.

The results of the so-called "civilian trial" has been anything but civil and has added more miles of anger from your citizens toward Americans.

There's only one saving grace and help in response to the sentencing, Mr. Presidents: See that Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is PARDONED. We all must needs consider our legacies each and every day. Someday, when your children and grandchildren ask you about this case -- and they most certainly will -- then at least when they bring up Dr. Aafia, maybe you will be able look them in the eyes with clearer consciences.

Pardoning Aafia may be one way to usher in some much needed integrity in this deceitful "war on terror" which has become so largely a "war on the innocent" in the name of oil, power, sovereign nation-occupation and assumption of superiority.

May freeing Dr. Aafia at last allow you to hold your heads just a little higher and your hearts/minds a little freer.

Yours sincerely,

Connie Lynn Nash

Mother, Writer, Human Rights Specialist

============================
Write your own letter to the Presidents online GO to:
http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/support.php?ua=UAU-049-2008-1

Blog/post/email readers, when you pass on this letter, please be sure to add the URL just above and/or just under my Open Letter so that you and others will be able to send your own. This can be done online easily and quickly and be mailed for you. Appropriate editing is encouraged. More information in other posts just below this one on oneheartforpeace dot blogspot dot com

Government Says Using All Political - Legal Channels for Dr. Aafia's Release

ORIGINAL here


ABDUL B.A. WAHEED ABDULLAH Ask Questions Re: Aafia Siddiqui — My heart bled when I read the news of American soldiers killing Afghan civilian for sport.We have not yet recovered from the shock of Abu Ghraib. Now comes the news of another savagery by the American forces in another occupied Muslim country. We can draw two occlusions: Either American forces are not under proper command or they know they can do anything and get away with it (meaning they do everything with official connivance).Now let us place the fabricated crimes of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s against the real crimes of American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Siddiqui gets 86 years in prison. What about those involved in Abu Ghraib depravities and those US troops killing Afghans for fun? They may get medals for bravery if downing of Iran Air flight is anything to go by.I have worked with Americans and admire them for their fairness and openness. What has gone wrong with a nation known for its openness, civilized culture, commitment to justice and freedom?President Barack Obama says, “America is not at war with Islam.” Such platitudes are not enough. He should do more to improve the image of America. The first step in this direction should be the release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

Keep Going to Free Aafia dot Org (Official Aafia Siddiqui Site), Cage Prisoners dot com, ondelette and more on this site below. Be sure to SIGN PETITIONARY LETTER named below.

Now, let's turn our hearts and minds toward those so devastated by the floods.

Thousands rally in Karachi over scientist jailed in US

Dr Sattar said US authorities should review many of their policies.

"They are pushing secular, moderate, liberal and progressive people on the other side of the line of divide," he said, "and more and more people are becoming fanatic, becoming extremists and becoming terrorists."

Pakistan's government is now feeling the heat of this fast-growing campaign.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani expressed his displeasure after Dr Aafia was sentenced.

He called her a daughter of the nation, and said his government would do its best to get her released.529806797170918722" />

Planned Reform Should Include Monitoring and Apply to Domestic Workers

(New York) September 28, 2010 -- The Kuwaiti government's announcement that it will abolish its employer-based sponsorship system for recruiting migrant workers by February 2011 is a significant step to address a major source of labor abuse, Human Rights Watch said today. It is unclear, though, whether the change will apply to migrant domestic workers, who make up a significant proportion of the country's migrant workers but who are not covered by any labor law protections, Human Rights Watch said.

"This announcement is an important declaration that the Kuwaiti government is taking seriously the need to protect migrant workers," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "But the government needs to say publicly what it plans to do and it needs to include domestic workers in its plans."

Kuwait's current sponsorship system ties a migrant worker's immigration status to an individual employer, or sponsor, without whose consent the worker cannot transfer employment. "Absconding" from the workplace is a criminal offense, even if a worker has left because of abuse. This system gives employers unchecked leverage and control over workers, who remain completely dependent upon the sponsoring employer for their livelihood.

Human Rights Watch has documented abuses of migrant workers enabled by sponsorship restrictions in Gulf countries, including in Kuwait. Employees can suffer physical and sexual abuse, and employers often withhold salaries, require long working hours with no time off, refuse to allow a worker to go home after an employment contract expires, and block avenues to redress. Human Rights Watch will release a report on October 6, 2010, at a news conference in Kuwait City about its findings in Kuwait.
The Labor Ministry announced in 2009 that the government would abolish the sponsorship system, but the promised reforms at that time were minor. Migrant workers were allowed to change sponsors without their consent, but only after completion of the initial employment contract or after three consecutive years of employment. Furthermore, the change did not include the country's 660,000 migrant domestic workers and offered no protection to workers in abusive employment conditions during the first three years.

"Any new system should allow workers to change or terminate employment at will, and should decriminalize 'absconding,' or leaving employment without an employer's permission," Whitson said. "The government should make its plans public and cooperate with civil society and the countries the workers come from to adopt the highest standard of protection for workers' rights."

Human Rights Watch Press release

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HREA - www.hrea.org (go to site to sign-up for free human rights emails - these are often unusually helpful items for all interested in Rights world-wide)

Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) is an international non-governmental organisation that supports human rights learning; the training of activists and professionals; the development of educational materials and programming; and community-building through on-line technologies.

====================
Those interested in safe-guards for the plight of domestic workers (whether migrants/immigrants or not) may want to look for more such items at Democracy Now!, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, Amnesty International. Somewhat related in terms of methods which have at times led to safe-guards from governments - see a short Video of the Week on Caesar Chavez - also to be found at bottom of the following post here

Find the latest on FBI raids on US groups concerned with issues of peace, migrants-immigrants issues and Palestine-Israeli peace also for 9-28 at nomorecrusades here

Why Dr. Aafia’s Campaign is Cause for Celebration

“I know very well how everything I do for Aafia keeps backfiring. It is just so frustrating. I am just hurt and overwhelmed, shocked at the situation here.”

- Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui
the sister of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui

From her place in the center of the eye of the hurricane I know how Dr. Fowzia could write those words. She is standing in the midst of a situation that nothing could have prepared her for.

She wonders if anything she has done for Aafia makes any difference at all. After all Aafia is still in an American jail, waiting to be sentenced to life in prison later this month. She is no closer to coming home than she was when she was found dazed and disoriented on the streets of Ghazni. So Dr. Fowzia sees herself as a failure…

…but not so fast. Take a few steps back and catch your breath. In 2003 Dr. Aafia and her three children vanished from the face of the Earth as agents of the military dictator kidnapped and sold them to representatives of the United States. Now step forward seven years. As a direct result of Dr. Fowzia’s work, her sister Aafia is no longer being held and tortured in an unacknowledged prison facility and two of her three children have been recovered and are living with their grandmother.

Traditionally the families and friends of those who have disappeared by secret government orders have been lucky if they can find a general location where the bodies might have been dumped. Dr. Fowzia and her supporters have achieved something unprecedented in the field of human rights; they have forced the reappearance of Aafia, her son Ahmad, and her daughter Maryam. Three living human beings.

It is true that Aafia is still being held in an American jail and there is still no sign of her youngest son Suliman. Is this the victory? Not yet. In this line of work few victories come easily. There are no rules. Progress is measured as a few steps here and a couple of inches there.

When Aafia is sentenced later this month it will not mean her case is over and lost. It will instead be the confirmation of a victory that freed her from torture in a secret prison and returned two of her children home.

The sentencing will also mark the beginning of the next steps in the campaign. Suliman, the child who may never have had a chance to live, must be accounted for. If he is still alive, return him to his family, if he is not, an explanation must be provided. Aafia must be cleared of the slanders and libels that have been thrown at her. And of course, return Aafia home.

This may seem to be a lot of effort for one woman and a child who may not even be alive. If it were just the two of them you might be inclined to count your blessings and quit. Aafia and Suliman were just born with bad luck.

But it isn’t just about them. Or Ahmad and Maryam. Or Aafia’s mother, sister, and brother. Or even her ex-husband or her crazy uncle. Hundreds of Pakistanis disappeared in very much the same fashion during the rule of the military dictator. Bring Aafia home and account for Suliman and it will be proof that others can also be returned. It just takes the will to shine a little bit of light on evil, and evil gets very frightened.

In the Bible story, Moses brought God’s message to the Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” Pharaohs come and go using different names, but the message remains.

Look at how Dr. Fowzia responded to her sister’s plight armed with only faith in God, a pure soul, and courage. Despite death threats, she and a small group of supporters stood up to a dictator and within a few days Aafia reappeared. A few weeks later the dictator was gone.

This can be repeated to help others. Human rights groups will be studying this case for years as proof that the evil can be overcome.

As a final note, when Aafia came to America she often spoke to me about Islam. She said that while many people focused on fasting and feasting during Ramadan, there was more to it. Ramadan is also a time of reflection. Reflection on the things you have done for others. Like Dr. Fowzia and the campaign for her sister. This has acomplished something extraordinary and it will acomplish even more. This campaign has rewritten the book on saving people from injustice.

Andrew Purcell

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and Justice in the Service of Empire

“[I will] give a propagandist reason for starting the war [and don't] mind whether it was plausible or not. The victor will not be asked afterward whether he told the truth or not. In starting and waging a war it is not the right that matters, but victory.”

Justice Robert Jackson unequivocally affirmed that the Nazi quest for full spectrum dominance of Europe was illegal by international law, under any pretext:

“The intellectual bankruptcy and moral perversion of the Nazi regime might have been no concern of international law had it not been utilized to goosestep the Herrenvolk across international frontiers. It is not their thoughts, it is their overt acts which we charge to be crimes.”

And in order to ensure that these legal words of immense import were never re-semanticized for “imperial mobilizations” by future 'ubermensch' Reichs, but rather, that these concepts remained inviolably “encas[ed] in a semantic strait-jacket”, the very definition for the word 'aggressor' was ab initio proposed by Justice Robert Jackson as a state which first initiates:

“invasion of its armed forces, with or without a declaration of war, of the territory of another State. ... If certain acts of violation of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us.”

That is quite an objective measure in international law for ascertaining who is the most guilty aggressor party, and who to fry first for crimes against peace, for monumental crimes against humanity.

So, even if Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is actually guilty as charged; is indeed the heinous mastermind of Al-Qaeeda (a Hegelian Dialectic which is examined elsewhere); or even if she was merely a dupe recruited by the Talibans/Al-Qaeeda as their waterboy (just as the CIA recruited Muslims from around the world to fight as the lauded Mujahideen against the USSR with proclamations of “god is on your side”); by the same yardstick as was used to hang the Nazis while awarding medals of bravery to the Allies who killed millions of innocent civilians in the defense of Europe against the aggressor, all the evil which has followed from the terrorist acts of an individual in aiding and abetting the militant-response against the invasion forces in Afghanistan is similarly legally subsumed by the monumental acts of state terrorism! The superpower's utilization of the 911 terrorist incident to “goosestep the Herrenvolk across international frontiers” is little different from the Nazis'.

Therefore, in any fair justice system interested in bringing real criminals closer to their day of accounting, before Dr. Aafia can be charged for her criminal conduct of responding to the invading forces in Afghanistan by her frail physical might, the leaders of the 'free world' and their financial supermasters seeking their own “Lebensraum” must be put on trial for their “supreme international crime ... [of] goosestep[ing] the Herrenvolk across international frontiers.”!

To anyone with even half a brain, but one which is not entirely uncongenial to reflection, it must have been rather obvious from day-one that in the light of public revelations of the egregious circumstances of Dr. Aafia's bizarre capture and the subsequent orchestration of her show trial (instead of simply assassinating the accused if she was such a diabolical threat to mankind), any “justice” administered to Dr. Aafia Siddiqui would only be comparable to the proclamation of the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland: “off with her head”.

It must also have been apparent to those inclined to perusing statecraft rather than watching television or reading newspapers for their knowledge of current affairs, that the show trial of Aafia Siddiqui was designed primarily to serve an agenda of the state. Namely, one of calculatingly exercising the “high degree of doctrinal motivation, intellectual commitment, and patriotic gratification” deemed necessary for a “sustained exercise abroad of genuinely imperial power.” A careful reading of Zbigniew Brzezinski's The Grand Chessboard makes the political science and the various mantras behind “imperial mobilization” abundantly clear.

Therefore, at least for these abnormal people who actually try to comprehend the forces which drive terrorism, both the pirate's as well as the emperor's, there is nothing surprising in the guilty verdict, nor in the conduct of the servile Pakistani rulers leading up to the verdict, and nor in the utterances of the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Ann Patterson. To have expected anything else after all the careful preparations that went into enacting this puppetshow, the show trial and its attendant media demonization of Dr. Aafia, only betrays immense naiveté of the inner-workings of empire.

In my view, the prima facie 'Truth about US justice' is that “justice” is in the service of empire, as it always has been! The madam Ambassador of the United States to Pakistan has only executed the core purpose of her diplomatic post rather faithfully in the service of her empire.

Justice in these times, like everything else, including science, politics, history, literature, cinema, news (which is often indistinguishable from cinema), and of course political-science, is continually put in the diabolical service of empire. The only veritable truths are the imperial proclamations of the white man – from who did 911 to Global War on Terror to Global Warming to Global Epidemics to Global Financial Collapse to Global Governance. These history-constructions by incremental faits accomplis are the sine qua non for one-world government and cannot be constrained in any moral or legal “semantic strait-jacket”.

It's not like the beleaguered Pakistanis don't know it – we even have the East India Company's achievements to guide us – but apparently, we, the 'untermensch', never quite seem to learn its lessons. And that's really the only pernicious secret of the enduring hidden strength of the golem behind all its guns and butter offerings to its victims before slaughtering them. The veritable strength of its 'Samson locks': our own price!

The former Director of the ISI, Brig. Tirmazi, narrated the following about us Pakistanis in his 1996 book Profiles of Intelligence:

'... It would be fair to ask what we [the ISI] did to counter the US machinations? Well we did not, and could not do any thing beyond reporting to the highest authority in the country. There are reasons for our inaction:

One, neither the ISI nor the IB is designed or equipped to counter the machinations of a Super Power.

Two, an important factor is our own price. A lot has been said and written by some of our American friends about the price of a Pakistani. Dr. Andrew V. Corry, US Counsel General at Lahore, once said, “Price of a Pakistani oscillates between a free trip to the US and a bottle of whisky.” He may not be too far wrong. We did observe some highly placed Pakistanis selling their conscience, prestige, dignity and self-respect for a small price.' (page 45, emphasis added)

That evergreen description however has not captured the grotesque reality of the English-enabled 'intellectual Negroes' flourishing in Pakistan today. Their “price” is not measured in such pecuniary terms. Read its full examination here:

http://print-humanbeingsfirst. blogspot.com/2010/02/what-is- intellectual-negro.html

Given this tortuous backdrop of modernity, the point of the unsubtle resignation request made by the courageous Ms. Ridley to show some moral backbone among the errand boys and girls of empire, even as it is merely being rhetorical, is entirely meaningless even in its rhetoric for two reasons: 1) it is a moral request in a global governance system which is beyond good and evil, one which brazenly asserts “hegemony is as old as mankind”, and which puts morality itself directly in the service of empire; and 2) given that the highest-order-bit of the systemic disease among the 'untermensch' has apparently already been apportioned as our national destiny!

Crises are defining moments for nations, and for a people. Some rise to it. Others fall before it. Pakistan as a nation has evidently decided the latter course of action – and this is palpably apparent from the statements of Pakistan's own Ambassador to Washington:

'“Foreign relations are not discussed in poetry, ... Saddam Husain’s last speech was also full of poetry but it could not save him or his nation”', and that 'relationships between nations are based on ground realities'.

Read its full deconstruction here: http://print-humanbeingsfirst. blogspot.com/2009/11/bringing- back-thelost-zen-to-pakistan. html

While it is true that most in Pakistan are very upset by what has befallen Dr. Aafia Siddiqui as yet another victim of “imperial mobilization” – only one among the millions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Pakistan's Tribal-Belt, all along the 'arc of crisis' in the “global zone of percolating violence”, etc. – the handful who did publicly protest this latest visitation of empire's justice upon a frail tortured woman in a nation of almost 200 million, did so only symbolically. And many an English-enabled 'house Negro' only expressed faith in empire's Justice. The English language Pakistani press is full of their editorials which span the gamut of intellectual servitude from heaping scorn on any public expression of empathy with the victim, to outright blaming the victim. And this combined show of moral bravado despite the fact that Dr. Aafia has become the inextricable symbol of the summation of all the abhorrent injustices purveyed upon women in wars – from rape to rape – and no mere words can ever capture her indescribable agony! Yet, most Pakistanis among the 'field Negroes' daring to express a modicum of moral outrage only displayed our fine moral tenor from the comforts of our living room. Just as we did when Iraqi women were being raped, tortured, and disappeared in the service of empire not too long ago. Then we returned back to our daily grind.

Symbols of morality, like talismans, are no match for hard orchestrated events of “imperial mobilization”. And especially when arsonists are running all the fire brigades in a nation where its masses are more closely tied to their daily bread than to matters of state or national survival. The apathetic public well understands that many more arsonists eagerly await in the wings to take the place of their predecessors. The masses are well aware that the Pakistani elite, the ever patriotic praetorian guards, and their coterie of miserable sycophants have already learnt that while one's abject service to empire can sometimes be hazardous to one's existential wellness, it also routinely calls for new faces in many a chief's seat and presents the fabulous opportunity to loot and plunder anew in the name of patriotism.

Therefore, Ms. Yvonne Ridley's impassioned moral hint to the distinguished American Ambassador to Pakistan:

'She should then pick up the phone to the US president and tell him to release Aafia and return Pakistan’s most loved, respected and famous daughter and reunite her with the two children who are still missing. Then she should re-read her letter of August 16, 2008 and write another ... one of resignation.',

will only deprive madam Ambassador of a well-earned livelihood and comfortable retirement for no fault of her own. She merely faithfully discharged her service contract to her own empire. And it will do nothing for Pakistan either, for we, as a nation, are serving exactly the same interests. When these aren't even our own!

I humbly recommend instead that madam American Ambassador be the next in line to be awarded the glorious Freedom Medal by the White House. President Obama has already received his Nobel Peace Prize.

Aafia Siddiqui Sentenced: A Grievous Miscarriage of Justice - by Stephen Lendman

Most EU States Support Call for Israeli, Palestinian War Crimes Investigations; US and Canada Opposed

Human Rights Watch, February 26, 2010

“The UN resolution sends a strong message that Israel and Hamas need to conduct genuine investigations into the allegations of wartime abuses and punish those responsible. Governments are refusing to exempt the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from demands for justice made for other conflicts around the world.”

Steve Crawshaw, UN advocacy director at Human Rights Watch
(New York) – Today’s United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for impartial Gaza war crimes investigations is an important step toward justice for all civilian victims of last year’s conflict, Human Rights Watch said. A majority of UN members, including most European Union (EU) states, voted for the resolution, increasing pressure on Israel and Hamas to conduct credible investigations into the allegations of war crimes by their forces.

A November 2009 General Assembly resolution calling for credible domestic investigations by all parties to the conflict garnered support from only 5 EU member states.

“The UN resolution sends a strong message that Israel and Hamas need to conduct genuine investigations into the allegations of wartime abuses and punish those responsible,” said Steve Crawshaw, UN advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments are refusing to exempt the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from demands for justice made for other conflicts around the world.”

By a vote of 98 to 7, with 31 abstentions, the General Assembly called on Israel and Hamas to conduct thorough and impartial investigations into the serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law documented by the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (the Goldstone report). Fifty-six countries did not vote. The resolution requires Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to report back to the General Assembly within five months on the progress both parties have made.

The Goldstone report concluded that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

Sixteen EU members voted for the resolution, including permanent Security Council members France and the United Kingdom.

The countries voting against were Canada, Israel, Macedonia, Micronesia, Nauru, Panama, and the United States.

“Washington’s objection to this resolution reveals a blatant double standard when it comes to international justice,” Crawshaw said. “Why should the victims of war crimes in Gaza not benefit from the same US demands for accountability as victims in Congo and Darfur?”

In its resolution on November 5, 2009, the General Assembly called on Israel and Hamas to conduct credible investigations within three months. In late January 2010, Israel and Hamas delivered their reports on domestic investigations to the UN. Based on those reports, Secretary-General Ban told the General Assembly on February 4 that, because the domestic processes were ongoing, “no determination can be made on the implementation of the resolution by the parties concerned.” He repeated his call on all parties “to carry out credible domestic investigations into the conduct of the Gaza conflict.”

Human Rights Watch has strongly criticized both Israel and Hamas for failing to conduct thorough and impartial investigations into the many alleged violations by their forces during the Gaza conflict.

To date, Israel has not prosecuted any soldier or commander for unlawful killings or other serious laws-of-war violations during the Gaza conflict. Nor has it conducted credible investigations into military policies that may have contravened the laws of war or facilitated war crimes. These include the targeting of Hamas political institutions and Gaza police; the use of heavy artillery and white phosphorus munitions in populated areas; and the rules of engagement for aerial drone operators and ground forces.

Hamas has not disciplined or prosecuted anyone for ordering or carrying out thousands of deliberate or indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israeli population centers before, during, and after the fighting in December 2008 and January 2009. Killings and other serious abuses by Hamas security forces against suspected collaborators and political rivals in Gaza have also gone unpunished.

“The United States, Canada, and other governments that voted against the Gaza resolution missed an opportunity to help break the cycle of violence and impunity that poses a major obstacle to the peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Crawshaw said.

Burning Quran - An Article

It is an excellent write up. Please circulate it to all your friends and acquaintences.

ON BURNING OF QURAN

Who is burning the Quran? A Christian priest? Ask a question, if I write the name of Jesus Christ on a piece of paper 29 times and give it to him to burn it, will he burn it? If I write the name of Moses on a piece of paper and give it to a Jew, will he burn it? What they intend to burn is the same. In the Quran the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned with great Honour 29 times and the name of Moses with dignity 129 times, while the name of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon all of them) is mentioned just 4 times. In addition all the 24 prophets mentioned in the Quran are there in the Bible. Make them aware that they are burning the names of Jesus Christ, Moses and all 24 prophets. The problem is none of them have ever cared to read the Quran. My request to them is to read the Quran’s translation in their own language (easily available free in mosques and in Islamic Centers) and then decide whether burning the Quran is justified or not. I may assure them that they will highly regret in their lives when at a later date they read it. All the allegations of immorality on Mother Marry, Jesus Christ and other prophets mentioned in different books have been very neatly refuted in the Quran. Mother marry has been given the highest Honour amongst all the women of the World. Read it you will be enlightened. Birth of Moses and his marriage has been described in the most respectful manner. Not a single derogatory word has been used in the Quran for any of the prophets those mentioned in the Bible. Why burn the Quran? Burn those books in which baseless allegations have been put on many of the prophets of God. That will be fully justified. Once you read its translation, you will be convinced that it is the best book on earth, every word is of God, the God of Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them all). Not a single word has changed in 1431 years. It is in its original, pristine form preserved in Turkey and in Leningrad.

It is totally a wrong concept that it was written by the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). How can a person who did not know how to read anything or write, can write a book of over 600 pages without any mistake, describing the advance theory of science and space? He could not even put his signature on the letters which he sent to the heads of states, he used to stamp them with a seal of his name. Moreover the Quran is in the highest literary form of Arabic language, which he did not speak; he used to speak colloquial Arabic. How can Quran be considered man made; a book which describes intricate embryological development of a fetus, space science, complicated oceanography and in over 1400 years no one has found any contradiction or any mistake? Every word of the Quran is the word of God, the same God of Adam, Abraham Moses and Jesus Christ. How can anyone even think of burning the words of your own God?

What is radical about Islam or the teachings of the Quran? Without reading it you call it radical! Bring a single copy of the Bible which is in its original form. What amount of changes is made in the Bible by men to the words of God? Who gave them the authority in the very first place to change the words of God, revise and re-revise the Bible? But still we do not call it radical. We also have appeal to the Muslims of the whole world don’t even think of burning a single copy of the Bible in retaliation because the Bible has the names of our 24 prophets whom all we respect from the core of our hearts.

Coming down to the most crucial point of 9/11: The allegation is again on the Muslim, so they decided to burn the Quran, stop building an Islamic Center in Manhattan near Ground Zero. Have a look at the documentaries made on the truth of 9/11. These documentaries are proved without the shadow of doubt there in the scenario of 9/11 in the year 2001, no Muslim was involved. In one of the documentary it said loud and clear that no Muslim is involved in 9/11 . Amazing, all the documentaries and films are made by Americans and that too Christians. Go through each and every documentary on U-Tube, you will be amazed, who did it - you have to decide yourself of course not any Muslim? The preparation was done three months before 9/11. If anyone considers these documentaries are not authentic, why can’t they take the producers to the courts and involve FBI to investigate how dare they can make such movie which has tarnished the image of America all over the world and the whole world had sunk in deep recession shattering the economy of all the countries. What benefit they achieved by doing so? Thousands of Americans were killed and even are being killed today. Trillions of Dollars have burnt in smoke, millions of innocent people were killed and other multimillions suffered. Why don’t these preachers of peace go after them who did it?

Why Muslims and why Quran?

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui Sentencing

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui Sentencing
Posted On Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at at 11:37 AM by Owner

WAKE UP CALL TO NATIONAL LEADERS

GENERAL ASHFAQ KAYANI
NAWAZ SHARIF
ALTAF HUSSAIN
MUNAWAR HASAN
IMRAN KHAN
FAZLUR REHMAN
ASFANDYAR


FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION


AAFIA SIDDIQUI'S SENTENCING IS ANNOUNCED ON SEPT. 23 AND THE DOORS ARE CLOSED FOR HER.


Many of Siddiqui's supporters, including international human rights organizations, have claimed that Siddiqui was not an extremist and that she and her young children were illegally detained and interrogated by Pakistani intelligence during her five year disappearance, likely at the behest of the U.S. Siddiqui’s family has said she was abducted and tortured by U.S. intelligence.

After Siddiqui's conviction, she sent a message through her lawyer, saying that "she doesn’t want there to be violent protests or violent reprisals in Pakistan over this verdict." Her message indicates that she was neither an extremist nor terrorist. Thousands of students, political and social activists protested in Pakistan. Some shouted anti-American slogans, while burning the American flag and effigies of President Barack Obama in the streets. Her sister has spoken frequently and passionately on her behalf at rallies. Echoing her family's comments, and anti-U.S. sentiments, many believe she was picked up in Karachi in 2003, detained at the U.S. Bagram Airbase, and tortured, and that the charges against her were fabricated and / or exaggerated.

A petition was filed seeking action against the Pakistani government for it having not approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to have Siddiqui released from the United States. Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffree said the CIA arrested Siddiqui in Karachi in 2003, and one of her sons was killed during her arrest.

In Pakistan, Siddiqui's February 2010 conviction was followed with expressions of support by many Pakistanis, who appeared increasingly anti-American, as well as by politicians and the news media, who characterized her as a symbol of victimization by the United States.

USA needs to understand that if the verdict is against her, people and soldiers of Pakistan will increasingly hate America Government and American people.

KHUDA KAY LEYAY SARAY LEADER APNI ZIMMADARI MEHSOOS KARAIN.

SEE other items on Dr. Aafia's dilemma (and all ours who see justice and human rights as well) on this site below. This one highlights the essential elements of the coming day in court this week:

oneheartforpeace: Dr. Aafia Siddiqui Updates: Sentencing in Judge Berman's court once again...On September 23rd Sep 14, 2010 in lower Manhattan here

Following last Updated on Sunday, 12 September 2010 12:00 from Free Aafia dot org

Background:

* Dr. Aafia earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from MIT and earned her doctorate from Brandeis University.
* Her doctoral thesis was “Learning through Imitation” in which she included her research on improving learning techniques for children.
* She was totally dedicated to her children and her academic studies revolved around how children learn.
* Unfortunately, Dr. Aafia became a victim of domestic violence during her marriage.
* In 2002, Dr. Aafia’s husband moved the family to Pakistan and soon divorced her while she was pregnant with the couple’s third child. He remarried within weeks of giving her the divorce.
* Dr. Aafia is now 38 years old, a mother of three children (2 are US citizens), divorced, and is a Pakistani citizen.

Circumstances Surrounding the Case:

Briefly, here are some of the basic circumstances of Dr. Aafia’s case:

* In March 2003, Dr. Aafia and her three children, Ahmad (boy), six years old and an American citizen, Maryum (girl), four years old and also an American citizen, and Suleman (boy), six months old, kidnapped by unknown authorities in Karachi, Pakistan.
* On March 31, 2003 it was reported by the Pakistani media that Dr. Aafia had been arrested and turned over to representatives of the United States. In early April, this was confirmed on NBC Nightly News, among other media outlets.
* There was communication to the mother of Dr. Aafia from purported “agencies” that the family members should be quiet if they want to see Aafia returned alive.
* By the year 2008, many believed that after five years of being disappeared Dr. Aafia and her three children were most likely dead.
* Then, in July of 2008, the same month Dr. Aafia “appeared” in Ghazni, two events occurred:

1. British human-rights reporter, Yvonne Ridley and former Bagram detainee and British citizen, Moazem Begg, publicly spoke about a woman in Bagram screaming, a woman whom they named the “Grey Lady of Bagram”
2. A petition for habeas corpus was filed with the Pakistan High Court in Islamabad requesting that the court order the Pakistani government to free Dr. Aafia or to even admit that they were then detaining her.

What Supporters and Family Believe?:

This is what the family and many other supporters in the US and in Pakistan believe:

* That Dr. Aafia was (and is) an innocent person who was abducted for money or based on false allegations or false conclusions derived from an unknown source.
* That, unfortunately, all evidence required for her defense and establishing legal proof of her detention would require full cooperation by the U.S. and Pakistani governments, and intelligence agencies, a cooperation that seems impossible.
* That documents incriminating Dr. Aafia are either false documents or produced under torture or threat of harm to her children.
* That the Afghan police were looking for Dr. Aafia and her son based on a description given by an anonymous tip on the day she was detained in Ghazni.
* That had Dr. Aafia and her son been shot on sight on suspicion of being suicide bombers, this would have led to a convenient closure of the case of Aafia Siddiqui at a time when a petition for habeas corpus was pending in the High Court of Pakistan in Islamabad. Note that this court had been asked to order then-President Musharraf and the Pakistani government (which would include anyone working with them) to release her or to reveal her whereabouts.
* That Dr. Aafia, who spoke no local language in Ghazni, was dressed so conspicuously in a manner to be easily identified and shot on sight as a (falsely-accused) suicide bomber as a part of someone else’s plan.
* The forensic and scientific evidence presented during the trial in New York proved that Dr. Aafia could not have committed the crimes for which she was charged, still the jury disregarded the evidence and chose to agree with the prosecution due to fear and prejudice.

What Dr. Aafia’s detractors want?:

* We are asked to believe that Dr. Aafia, a respectable Pakistani woman in all ways, is now the first and only female terrorist from Pakistan; was voluntarily hiding under cover with three children acting as a terror field operative while at the same time leaving her family to believe for five years that she and her three children were dead.
* We are asked to believe that Dr. Aafia arranged this just after her father died, after finding out her marriage was disintegrating, and after leaving her widowed mother alone in Pakistan. It is absolutely not plausible and does not even fit the traditional profile by law enforcement of female or male terrorists from that part of the world.

Current Situation:

* In February, 2010, Dr. Aafia was tried and convicted in a US Federal court on charges of attempted murder and assaulting US servicemen in Ghazni, Afghanistan. The official charges against Dr. Aafia were that she assaulted U.S. soldiers in Ghazni, Afghanistan, with one of the servicemen’s own rifles, while she was in their custody, waiting to be interrogated by them. No US personnel were hurt but Dr. Aafia was shot and suffered serious injuries including brain damage. Dr Aafia categorically denies these charges.
* There were NO terrorism charges against Dr. Aafia.
* According to several legal observers, the trial of Dr. Aafia was littered with many inconsistencies and defects, chief among them being many rulings by the judge that strongly favored the prosecution and prejudiced the case against the defense. These ranged from allowing much hearsay evidence and jury instructions that favored the prosecution. In addition, Dr. Aafia was not represented by lawyers of her choosing and faced constant innuendos of terrorism when she was not charged with any such offense.
* As a result of Judge Richard Berman’s framing of the case in a negative light, Dr Aafia was convicted despite ALL physical and forensic evidence that showed that she could not have committed the acts she was charged with.
* Dr. Aafia remains imprisoned, now at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York where she is kept in solitary confinement in the Special housing unit (SHU) which is the most severe confinement category. She is not allowed communication with anyone she trusts, including family members.
* She is expected to be sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years on September 23, 2010.

Dr. Aafia’s Children:

* Dr. Aafia’s oldest son, Ahmed, who is a U.S. citizen by birth, was found in Ghazni, Afghanistan after thinking he was an orphan and, in late 2008, was reunited with Dr. Aafia’s sister in Karachi, Pakistan.
* Dr. Aafia’s daughter, Maryum, also a US citizen by birth, was mysteriously “dropped off” in April 2010 near her aunt’s house in Karachi after being missing for 7 years. She was traumatized and spoke only American accented English.
* Dr. Aafia’s youngest child, Suleman, a boy who would now be about seven years old, remains missing; and is feared dead.

What Supporters and Family Seek?

* Dr. Aafia, an MIT and Brandeis laureate, is now a broken and mere shell of her former self. Under these circumstances, family and supporters are asking the U.S. government to repatriate Dr. Aafia back to her home in Pakistan.
* The Pakistani government has formally made this request as this matter has become a major public issue and has support across Pakistani political and social spectrums. Supporters and people of conscience should press government officials to get Dr. Aafia reunited with her family as soon as possible.
* An independent, open (with full public access and disclosure) and serious investigation should be undertaken into what happened to Dr. Aafia over the missing years and the whereabouts of her remaining child, so that this does not happen to other innocents.
* Dr Aafia’s family and supporters still have hope in fair minded peoples committed to mercy and justice to raise their voices. Justice for the past, for all Dr. Aafia has suffered, is hard to imagine.
* All that is asked for the future is for some measure of correction. If Dr. Aafia is repatriated, perhaps she can pick up some fragments of life with her family.

Closing:

We ask people to look into this case themselves, and to do so with an open mind. There is a lot of information out there on the Internet, and in the media. Many of the stories demonize Aafia, while some raise her to sainthood. Aafia is neither demon nor saint. Aafia is simply an ordinary mother, daughter and sister trapped in an extraordinary nightmare."BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529764772294411426" />

Aafia Siddiqui: For those who rarely read the fine print...

Plz dig deeper into the story of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui who was just sentenced yesterday in Judge Berman's court...


AP / Fareed Khan
Mohammad Ahmed, son of Aafia Siddiqui, takes part in a demonstration arranged by Human Rights Network.

OK, so you're new to the case and/or have considered the most intelligent thing to do re. Aafia Siddiqui to be let it go and let our "civilian court" handle things.

Chris Hedges, former journalist for the NYTimes, who's covered many "terrorist" stories, said: "I do not know whether Siddiqui is innocent or guilty. But I do know that permitting jailers, spies, kidnappers and assassins to operate outside of the rule of law contaminates us with our own bile. Siddiqui is one victim. There are thousands more we do not see."

Consider his comments soon after Aafia's Jan-Feb Trial this year entitled
"The Terror-Industrial Complex"

The conviction of the Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui in New York last week of trying to kill American military officers and FBI agents illustrates that the greatest danger to our security comes not from al-Qaida but the thousands of shadowy mercenaries, kidnappers, killers and torturers our government employs around the globe.

The bizarre story surrounding Siddiqui, 37, who received an undergraduate degree from MIT and a doctorate in neuroscience from Brandeis University, often defies belief. Siddiqui, who could spend 50 years in prison on seven charges when she is sentenced in May, was by her own account abducted in 2003 from her hometown of Karachi, Pakistan, with her three children—two of whom remain missing—and spirited to a secret U.S. prison where she was allegedly tortured and mistreated for five years. The American government has no comment, either about the alleged clandestine detention or the missing children.

Siddiqui was discovered in 2008 disoriented and apparently aggressive and hostile, in Ghazni, Afghanistan, with her oldest son. She allegedly was carrying plans to make explosives, lists of New York landmarks and notes referring to “mass-casualty attacks.” But despite these claims the government prosecutors chose not to charge her with terrorism or links to al-Qaida—the reason for her original appearance on the FBI’s most-wanted list six years ago. Her supporters suggest that the papers she allegedly had in her possession when she was found in Afghanistan, rather than detail coherent plans for terrorist attacks, expose her severe mental deterioration, perhaps the result of years of imprisonment and abuse. This argument was bolstered by some of the pages of the documents shown briefly to the court, including a crude sketch of a gun that was described as a “match gun” that operates by lighting a match.

“Justice was not served,” Tina Foster, executive director of the International Justice Network and the spokesperson for Aafia Siddiqui’s family, told me. “The U.S. government made a decision to label this woman a terrorist, but instead of putting her on trial for the alleged terrorist activity she was put on trial for something else. They tried to convict her of that something else, not with evidence, but because she was a terrorist. She was selectively prosecuted for something that would allow them to only tell their side of the story.”

The government built its entire case instead around disputed events in the 300-square-foot room of the Ghazni police station. It insisted that on July 18, 2008, the diminutive Siddiqui, who had been arrested by local Afghan police the day before, seized an M4 assault rifle that was left unattended and fired at American military and FBI agents. None of the Americans were injured. Siddiqui, however, was gravely wounded, shot twice in the stomach.

No one, other than Siddiqui, has attempted to explain where she was for five years after she vanished in 2003. No one seems to be able to explain why a disoriented Pakistani woman and her son, an American citizen, neither of whom spoke Dari, were discovered by local residents wandering in a public square in Ghazni, where an eyewitness told Harpers Magazine the distraught Siddiqui “was attacking everyone who got close to her.” Had Siddiqui, after years of imprisonment and torture, perhaps been at the U.S. detention center in Bagram and then dumped with one of her three children in Ghazi? And where are the other two children, one of whom also is an American citizen? In an article written by Petra Bartosiewicz in the November 2009 Harper’s Magazine, authorities in Afghanistan described a series of events at odds with the official version.

The events of the following day are also subject to dispute. According to the complaint, a U.S. Army captain and a warrant officer, two FBI agents, and two military interpreters came to question Siddiqui at Ghazni’s police headquarters. The team was shown to a meeting room that was partitioned by a yellow curtain. “None of the United States personnel were aware,” the complaint states, “that Siddiqui was being held, unsecured, behind the curtain.” No explanation is offered as to why no one thought to look behind it. The group sat down to talk and, in another odd lapse of vigilance, “the Warrant Officer placed his United States Army M-4 rifle on the floor to his right next to the curtain, near his right foot.” Siddiqui, like a villain in a stage play, reached from behind the curtain and pulled the three-foot rifle to her side. She unlatched the safety. She pulled the curtain “slightly back” and pointed the gun directly at the head of the captain. One of the interpreters saw her. He lunged for the gun. Siddiqui shouted, “Get the fuck out of here!” and fired twice. She hit no one. As the interpreter wrestled her to the ground, the warrant officer drew his sidearm and fired “approximately two rounds” into Siddiqui’s abdomen. She collapsed, still struggling, then fell unconscious.

The authorities in Afghanistan describe a different series of events. The governor of Ghazni Province, Usman Usmani, told my local reporter that the U.S. team had “demanded to take over custody” of Siddiqui. The governor refused. He could not release Siddiqui, he explained, until officials from the counterterrorism department in Kabul arrived to investigate. He proposed a compromise: the U.S. team could interview Siddiqui, but she would remain at the station. In a Reuters interview, however, a “senior Ghazni police officer” suggested that the compromise did not hold. The U.S. team arrived at the police station, he said, and demanded custody of Siddiqui, the Afghan officers refused, and the U.S. team proceeded to disarm them. Then, for reasons unexplained, Siddiqui herself somehow entered the scene. The U.S. team, “thinking that she had explosives and would attack them as a suicide bomber, shot her and took her.”

Siddiqui’s own version of the shooting is less complicated. As she explained it to a delegation of Pakistani senators who came to Texas to visit her in prison a few months after her arrest, she never touched anyone’s gun, nor did she shout at anyone or make any threats. She simply stood up to see who was on the other side of the curtain and startled the soldiers. One of them shouted, “She is loose,” and then someone shot her. When she regained consciousness she heard someone else say, “We could lose our jobs.”

Siddiqui’s defense team pointed out that there was an absence of bullets, casings or residue from the M4, all of which suggested it had not been fired. They played a video to show that two holes in a wall supposedly caused by the M4 had been there before July 18. They also highlighted inconsistencies in the testimony from the nine government witnesses, who at times gave conflicting accounts of how many people were in the room, where they were sitting or standing and how many shots were fired.

Siddiqui, who took the stand during the trial against the advice of her defense team, called the report that she had fired the unattended M4 assault rifle at the Americans “the biggest lie.” She said she had been trying to flee the police station because she feared being tortured. Siddiqui, whose mental stability often appeared to be in question during the trial, was ejected several times from the Manhattan courtroom for erratic behavior and outbursts.

“It is difficult to get a fair trial in this country if the government wants to accuse you of terrorism,” said Foster. “It is difficult to get a fair trial on any types of charges. The government is allowed to tell the jury you are a terrorist before you have to put on any evidence. The fear factor that has emerged since 9/11 has permeated into the U.S. court system in a profoundly disturbing way. It embraces the idea that we can compromise core principles, for example the presumption of innocence, based on perceived threats that may or may not come to light. We, as a society, have chosen to cave on fear.”

I spent more than a year covering al-Qaida for The New York Times in Europe and the Middle East. The threat posed by Islamic extremists, while real, is also wildly overblown, used to foster a climate of fear and political passivity, as well as pump billions of dollars into the hands of the military, private contractors, intelligence agencies and repressive client governments including that of Pakistan. The leader of one FBI counterterrorism squad told The New York Times that of the 5,500 terrorism-related leads its 21 agents had pursued over the past five years, just 5 percent were credible and not one had foiled an actual terrorist plot. These statistics strike me as emblematic of the entire war on terror.

Terrorism, however, is a very good business. The number of extremists who are planning to carry out terrorist attacks is minuscule, but there are vast departments and legions of ambitious intelligence and military officers who desperately need to strike a tangible blow against terrorism, real or imagined, to promote their careers as well as justify obscene expenditures and a flagrant abuse of power. All this will not make us safer. It will not protect us from terrorist strikes. The more we dispatch brutal forms of power to the Islamic world the more enraged Muslims and terrorists we propel into the ranks of those who oppose us. The same perverted logic saw the Argentine military, when I lived in Buenos Aires, “disappear” 30,000 of the nation’s citizens, the vast majority of whom were innocent. Such logic also fed the drive to root out terrorists in El Salvador, where, when I arrived in 1983, the death squads were killing between 800 and 1,000 people a month. Once you build secret archipelagos of prisons, once you commit huge sums of money and invest your political capital in a ruthless war against subversion, once you empower a network of clandestine killers, operatives and torturers, you fuel the very insecurity and violence you seek to contain.

I do not know whether Siddiqui is innocent or guilty. But I do know that permitting jailers, spies, kidnappers and assassins to operate outside of the rule of law contaminates us with our own bile. Siddiqui is one victim. There are thousands more we do not see. These abuses, justified by the war on terror, have created a system of internal and external state terrorism that is far more dangerous to our security and democracy than the threat posed by Islamic radicals.