Lettre ouverte à l’Ambassadeur des États Unis à Maurice

Le Comité local de soutien demande libération du Dr Aafia Siddiqui

Le Support Committee for the Freedom of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui a écrit à Mr. Henry V. Jardine pour demander l’intervention de Président des États Unis pour faire faire liberer ce detenu qui est en prison depuis 20 ans sas avoir commis un crime.

Your Excellency Mr. Henry V. Jardine
United States Ambassador to the Republic of Mauritius
U.S. Department of State

Dear Sir
As the term of office of President Joe Biden is nearing an end, we, the local Support Committee for the Freedom of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, kindly appeal to you, as the Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Mauritius, to help secure her release from prison.

President Joe Biden has recently commuted the prison sentence and granted pardon to several persons, including his son, as per the powers vested to him based on Article II, Section 2, and Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution.

We kindly urge that this clemency be also extended to Dr. Aafia Siddiqui before President Biden leaves office.

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, has spent over 20 years in detention for a crime, we have every reason to believe, she did not commit. It is time to end her prolonged suffering and stop this injustice. Her release would go a long way in easing tensions between the United States and the Muslim community worldwide. Her case is the epitome of all that went wrong in the so-called war on terror, in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York in September 2001 whereby many Muslims, including Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, have been wrongly accused of supporting terrorism and unjustly convicted in most cases.

The case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani citizen with a doctorate in Cognitive Neuroscience, is one wrought with a string of human rights abuses. She was first kidnapped in Karachi in March 2003 during which her youngest son, Suleman, was most probably killed. There was then the forcible adoption of her daughter, Maryam and the imprisonment of her other son, Ahmed. In exchange for a few thousand dollars, she was ‘sold’ to the United States secret service by the then government of Pervez Musharraf. Transferred to the infamous Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, she was tortured and held in her solitary confinement. After a brief release due to lack of evidence, she was arrested again on trumped-up charges (which she has constantly denied) for allegedly shooting US officers and was eventually sentenced to 86 years in prison in September 2010. During her current confinement, she is not receiving any significant medical attention befitting her situation and she has been denied access to religious or moral support.

It has been a nightmare for her and her family from the beginning and we appeal to you to help in ending it. Her release would be a significant step in the need to walk the talk regarding human rights, which the United States purports to defend, uphold and promote globally.

We have no doubt that you can understand the tremendous pain she has endured.

Please help us end it now!

With best regards

Support Committee for the Freedom of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui