Dr Aafia Siddiqui has claimed that she has been subjected to physical and sexual abuse during her ongoing detention in the US.
The claim was made in a report prepared by Pakistan’s consul general in Houston, Aisha Farooqui, who visited the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Carswell in Texas on May 23 to inquire after Dr Siddiqui’s health.
According to a local media report, Farooqui’s report suggests that the diplomatic authorities take up the case at the highest levels to find a way to repatriate Dr Siddiqui to Pakistan so that she could serve her remaining sentence in the country where her modesty and privacy would not be abused.
The report further states the miserable condition in which Dr Aafia is being held, adding that a detailed note should be sent to the US Department of Justice for an inquiry into the allegations of physical and sexual abuse the detained mentioned.
Farooqui, in the report, stated that she saw Dr Aafia’s nervousness and phobias, and fear of everything and everyone at the facility.
It was clear that she was afraid of the jail staff, their violations of her privacy, repeatedly confiscation of her things, the rampant threat of physical and sexual abuse and institutionalised rape and bisexuality that she claimed existed at the FMC Carswell.
Moreover, the detained also accused Asif Hussain, PA to Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani, of syphoning off the $2 million allocated by the government of Pakistan for her trial in 2010.
She also alleged that her case supervisor and two others attempted to rape her in February.
On June 7, the apex court asked the federal government to find out within three days whether Dr Aafia is still alive or otherwise. According to Fowzia, the government has failed to submit anything in this regard.
On February 3, 2010, a US federal court in New York found Dr Aafia guilty of two counts of attempted murder, armed assault, using and carrying a firearm, and three counts of assault on US officers and employees. She was sentenced to 86 years in prison.
