US refused to answer letter requesting release of Aafia Siddiqi: Dy Attorney General

The United States has refused to respond to a Pakistani government letter requesting the release of Aafia Siddiqi, now imprisoned in US Jails.

This was stated by the Deputy Attorney General in the Sindh High Court on Wednesday while hearing a petition to bring back Aafia Siddiqi to Pakistan from the United States.

The Counsel for Aafia said under the 2002 ordinance, she can be brought back. He said if the US and Pakistan agree the convict can be extradited from the United States.

The chief justice said the court will decide the matter after hearing arguments from the two sides.

Aafia Siddiqui was flown by the FBI from Afghanistan to New York and indicted in New York federal district court in September 2008, on charges of assault and attempted murder of a United States Army Captain in the police station in Ghazni, Afghanistan. Aafia denied the charges. After 18 months in detention, she was tried and convicted on 3 February 2010 and sentenced later that year to 86 years in prison.