Dr Afia Siddiqi's case

With Yvonne Ridley on AFia Siddiqi

Yvonne Ridley was one of the first journalists to have talked about Afia Siddiqa case. She has been very critical of her arrest and thinks that she has been singled out for her beliefs, a stand that I don’t accept. When her article on the decision on Afia’s case was published (which is being reproduced at the end of the page), I had entered into a discussion with her on her viewpoint between March 21 to 23 this year. The discussion failed to convince each other, it could offer some good reading on this highly emotional and sensitive issue. Any further dialogue is welcomed. My comments are in normal font while those of YR have been italicised.

Yvonne Ridley: Salaams Tahir, What evidence do you have she was working against US interest? We all enjoy, or should enjoy, freedom of speech. The prosecution’s opening statement was that she did not belong to any terror organisation so what evidence do you have to the contrary?

 

There’s been a great deal of hearsay and I feel that – inadvertently – you may have become a victim of that.

But thank you for all your time and trouble – you come from my favourite area of Pakistan where honour is often to be judged the real currency of the day … I salute you and your people and your efforts.

ME: Dear sister I always think and which you have also said that
“Of the hundreds who have been renditioned from Afghanistan (usually via Pakistan) why she is the only one put through a court?”.  Why do you just accuse me of being gullible, being taken in by US propaganda and of doing great disservice to my skills when we agree on that Afia has been wrongly and falsely implicated as I said earlier. I agree with you that there are several inherent contradictions, loopholes and weaknesses in the Afia case which, I think can save her if these are pointed out to the judges there.

I also think that the US has no right to impose its will on others. That is why Afghanis, I believe, are legitimate freedom fighters but why do Pakistani interfere in Afghanistan and make themselves at par with the US.

If you think that Afia has been punished for nothing, it is simply untenable. There are hundreds of thousands of Huffaz-e-Quran but she was singled out because she was there working against the US interests. Ok, I too believe the US is on the wrong but mind you it is a great power and great powers have never let others harm their status throughout the ages.

There are millions of vocal critics like you and me but as they do so peacefully, they are not prone to arrests and tortures. You said she was not Taliban but the Afghan Taliban official spokesman had asked for her release and included here in the list for any possible future exchange of prisoners?

I have closely following the case from the start. From what I read and discussed with activists, I have learnt that she had indeed crossed the limits of peaceful opposition, had indulged in anti-US activities, up to what I extent i don’t know but she certainly did that is why she was singled out as the first ever female anti-US ‘activist’ (the US dropped that charge against her because the prosecution knew that for lack of proof it was hard to prove the point in courts but there were intelligence reports about her and not all reports are false though most are)  that she was falsely implicated in the firing case, that she never contested the point that she was not arrested from Afghanistan, and actually it was from Pakistan that she was arrested, but despite that i think she can be won back only through legal means and must be helped.
I respect your interest, your sympathy with her and hundreds of others taken away and disappeared from the scenes. I will wait for any of your articles on the issue. You might have known from the footnote down in my email that I belong to Mardan NWFP. I am a teacher and a freelance columnist in The News, Dawn and Business Recorder. I had sent you the link to my article on the declining support to militants in my previous mail. kindly read and inform of your response. I think you are quite busy a person, as me, and I have taken a lot of your time on the issue. Sorry for that and thanks for your enlightening ideas.

ME: I fully agree your following observations. “I might not have all the pieces to this jigsaw but I think it’s fair to say Aafia has been a victim of the cruelest form of injustice, robbed of her children, shot, tortured, renditioned and charged in an illegal process. Why? Because this is what the US does and as long as politicians bend to their will, it will continue. But it needn’t continue unchecked.” ME: But I believe she is also to blame. She should not embark on a path that is fraught with these hazards. YR: MIT University – one of the top 10 in the world? Developing, as one of the world’s most accomplished neuroscientists developing a special programme to help remedial children with learning difficulties? ME: But the fact that she was not released doesn’t mean the US justice system is to blame. YR: Of course it is to blame – the trial should never have gone ahead, it was illegal. She was kidnapped and renditioned to the US for a crime allegedly carried out in Afghanistan. Of the hundreds who have been renditioned from Afghanistan (usually via Pakistan) why is she the only one put through a court? ME: Instead her lawyers are as you also said they ignored your point. I am strongly against burning US national flag by the Afia sympathisers. i simply loath it and it seems ridiculous to me when they say Pakistan should sever diplomatic relations with the US. YR: Flag burning is a symptom of frustration with countries, it happens the world over. Aafia never called for it and neither did her family. ME: I think government of Pakistan did what it could. \ YR: The Pakistan Govt sold her in the first place. By paying $2m it should have done that without condition but instead became the client and instructed the legal team. Then, according to my colleagues in the US media, HE Haqqani went on a behind-the-scenes briefing campaign demonising Aafia after the trial. ME: It simply would have won a lot of votes had she been released. Though, she had not asked the Pakistani nation or government to tread the path of extremism and that is why I think she and her relatives have no right to seek Pakistan’s help. YR: What path of extremism? Are you going to buy the FBI campaign against her? Please don’t be gullible. She is not an extremist although she has been painted one. She is a hafiz … does that make her an extremist? Are we punished for our piety now?   ME: I think she can be won back only through legal means by highlighting the inherent contradictions in the prosecutions case and by proving in the US courts her innocence in atleast the firing incident which certainly didn’t occur at all nor are there any evidences thereof. When I said why was she singled out, I meant by the US, not by you. YR: I would urge you to revisit this case – you have bought into the US propaganda she is an extremist and the evidence is without foundation. Tell me, with all the evidence the FBI said it had on her for conflict diamonds, carrying explosives, going on missions etc. why was she not charged with terrorism offences? The prosecution opened the trial with an admission that she was NOT al Qaida, NOT Taliban and NOT a member of any terrorist organisation. Please, revisit this case – you are doing your own skills a great disservice. ME:I am sorry you took me wrong. I too have been a former supporter for these people. i am not bribed nor fed by one. I too have been closely following the facts in the case. I think the truth is somewhere between what is said by the US and people like you.YR:I suppose you could call me a supporter but first and foremost I am a journalist and my speciality in more than thirty years has been more than two decades of investigative and intelligence work. ME: Dear sister your answers are hardly convincing. You are being taken in by symapthy too much for Afia which is natural- I also have sympathy for her but it is her own fault. Why on earth she was singled out in the whole of Pakistan? YR: Sympathy is not the word. As i said I am a journalist and sadly she has not been singled out … I wish she had. What about the hundreds of Disappeared, and the hundreds more who were sold, kidnapped and renditioned to Guantanamo. We know from Musharraf’s autobiography in the line of fire that he and intelligence made millions out of selling innocents like slaves to the Americans. I don’t need to be convincing in this arena, the facts are well documented – the video evidence, photographs from Abu Ghraib bears witness … and remember Abu Ghraib came to us in 2003, it was the next stop after Bagram for many US guards. One of my other hats is as a patron for Cageprisoners, a human rights organisation which is dealing or has dealt with literally thousands of Aafias. Go to http://www.cageprisoners.com for proof. ME: You read Robert Fist recent article in Guardian? I know they lie, have done that too often. But then we all try to hide fact that can harm our stand. YR: I know Bob Fisk quite well and I have a new document which rather rains on his parade – I will be sending it to him in the next few days. It is a full testimony and rebuttal from Aafia’s uncle that he deliberately misleads the media with regards Aafia. His timing is interesting but it seems he is one of the many who has come under undue pressure from ‘the shadows’ to mislead journalists. ME: I know she was falsely implicated in the case. I know she was tortured. You know when an officer said that he shot at her; she rebutted him by saying that it was not him and named another officer in the court. Her lawyers too had tried to save her under the garb madness but medical examination proved her intact. YR: She has three bullet wounds and has been stitched from sternum to naval, small intestine removed and a part of one of her kidneys. She was shot. if you are talking about her mental capabilities that’s an interesting point. Both the prison doctors acting for the defence and the prosecution said she was unfit mentally to stand trial. So two private psychologists were brought in to say she was malingering and was fit to stand trial. Their medical fees were in excess of 300,000 dollars … everyone has a price, I suppose. ME: She had also lied to the Afghan police officer. Mind you this Afghan police officer in court testimony had said something that was against the US witnesses. he said Afghan cops didn’t see her firing at the US agents and were actually very enraged after she was shot. (Why because the US just shot at her out of fear and then made a statement that she wanted to attack. YR: I physically went to Ghazni police station with a film crew – the Afghan police we interviewed were quite clear about what they saw and they insist she did not fire the gun – this was supported by all the scientific evidence. Sadly the pashtun translation in court from the interviews carried out by the US on the same policemen did not stand up – essentially the translation was poor and I reported this to the defence team the day before their summing up. They chose to ignore it, taking only instructions from their client … the Pakistan Government – the very government (ok. different administration) which sold her to the US in the first place. Hmm, now we have a serious conflict of interests developing don’t we? ME: I like Imran for honesty but he is too simple and emotional a man that is why he was being used by that very Qazi who had once toured along with major Mast Gul in the whole of Pakistan just to divert people’s attention from Imran in 1993 when he was at the height of his popularity. I bear witness myself to this as I was also a JI worker then. YR: This case has nothing to do with JI or Imran – but at least when I asked they gave me a platform to get the message out to the wider world when we needed to way back in July 2008. Without them Aafia would either be dead or presumed so by everyone – she only emerged when they gave me the platform to ask the media about Prisoner 650. By the way Tahir, there’s nothing wrong in being emotional or passionate about a cause, it is a sign of neither weakness nor compromise. the thing is the truth is always going to be there, the facts I have uncovered and corroborated are irrefutable … I might not have all the pieces to this jigsaw but I think it’s fair to say Aafia has been a victim of the most cruel form of injustice, robbed of her children, shot, tortured, renditioned and charged in an illegal process. Why? Because this is what the US does and as long as politicians bend to their will, it will continue. But it needn’t continue unchecked. There are good people like yourself with enquiring minds, sharp intellect and even sharper pens. ME: I am sorry. I respect your interest and sympathy. But I also think she is also to blame.YR: I can not believe you can say that – what about all the innocent men in Guantanamo bay – are they to blame for being sold like slaves by the ISI to the US? ME: Why did she go out from her sister homes in 2003 with her children? YR: She went to visit her uncle on a family visit but never arrived. A point clarified by him within 24 hours when he contacted Imran Khan, leader of Tehreek e Insaf and asked him to help … he did agree to hold a press conference but was contacted by Aafia’s mum not to do it. She had been warned to keep quiet or she would never see her daughter and grandchildren again. I have checked this with Imran Khan and he remembers the incident with great clarity. I have spoken to the families of The Disappeared and the modus opperandi of the ISI was to use that threat every time. ME: Why did she marry an Alqeda operative? YR: She didn’t. You are being spoonfed US intel and falling for it. Think about it – there is a period of time between getting a divorce, giving birth to a child and then being Islamically ready to get married again. if you check her movements, well documented, then it would have been impossible for her to marry him. So where did the information come from? Ah yes. KSM who was waterboarded how many times? And also from his nephew who was also waterboarded and tortured. I’m not sure about your resolve, but trust me, having experienced great fear and captivity myself, I would have signed anything out of fear. ME: Why did she go to Afghanistan? YR: Again you are blindly following what US psyops has put out. Think about it, women do not travel alone in Afghanistan, especially foreign women. When she she was found in a dazed and confused state having wandered from the exact spot where her US handlers told her to remain, she was surrounded by Afghans because pakistani women travelling on their own in Ghazni are as rare as hens’ teeth. ME: Why didn’t she contest the American claim that she was arrested from Afghanistan? YR: And at what point does she do that – just before they pump her full of lead? ME: Why was her family silent on her arrest uptil 2008 when the grey lady of bagram appeared in the news? YR: In truth they thought she was long dead and believed I was so interfering journalist after a sensational story and creating mischief. Granted Tahir this does sound incredible but don’t forget these are the people who brought us WMD in Iraq – remember Colin Powell showing us aerial shots of mobile laboratory units from where Saddam was manufacturing chemical weapons? A lot of people fell for that one. In march 1999 Bill Clinton officially apologised for black ops by the CIA in Nicaragua which led to the deaths of 300,000 people. These are the people who brought us Abu Ghraib. Wake up and smell the coffee – having an open mind is vital for journalists. I’ve been investigating this story on and off since 2005 and there are still lots of blanks. You may be interested to know that the uncle in Islamabad has now issued a total rebuttal of all his interviews that Aafia visited him in Islamabad a couple of years ago asking him to introduce her to the Taliban. It now seems he was being leaned on and threatened. I’ve just met Aafia’s mother for the first time today – strange that around five police officers are literally camped outside their home during a 24/7 period with a plain clothes presence as well. Now why do you think that is? I have had death threats and intimidation ever since I started covering this story. I would hope if anything happens to me other journalists will take up the baton and continue this investigation right through to its conclusion. YR: Salaams, Thank you for your advice – my concern and priority as always is to secure Aafia Siddiqui’s release by any means necessary within my powers.   Her plight is beyond politics, finger pointing or blame – we can do all of that after we get her home and find her children.   I’m coming to Pakistan son and as usual I will be asking people like yourself for their support and help – the Pakistan media is probably the most free in the world today.   ME: Dear sister I had read your article in The News but could not contact you due to my engagements. I also write articles for The News and Dawn. May i request you to please stay away from the Jamat-e-Islami which is using you for its point scoring against the government and other parties.YR’s article on Afia Siddiqi THE TRUTH ABOUT US JUSTICE   By Yvonne Ridley   Many of us are still in a state of shock over the guilty verdict returned on Dr Aafia Siddiqui. The response from the people of Pakistan was predictable and overwhelming and I salute their spontaneous actions. From Peshawar to Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and beyond they marched in their thousands demanding the return of Aafia. Even some of the US media expressed discomfort over the verdict returned by the jurors … there was a general feeling that something was not right. Everyone had something to say, everyone that is except the usually verbose US Ambassador Anne Patterson who has spent the last two years briefing against Dr Aafia and her supporters. This is the same woman who claimed I was a fantasist when I gave a press conference with Tehreek e Insaf leader Imran Khan back in July 2008 revealing the plight of a female prisoner in Bagram called the Grey Lady. She said I was talking nonsense and stated categorically that the prisoner I referred to as “650” did not exist. By the end of the month she changed her story and said there had been a female prisoner but that she was most definitely not Dr Aafia Siddiqui. By that time Aafia had been gunned down at virtually point blank range in an Afghan prison cell jammed full of more than a dozen US soldiers, FBI agents and Afghan police. Her Excellency briefed the media that the prisoner had wrested an M4 gun from one soldier and fired off two rounds and had to be subdued. The fact these bullets failed to hit a single person in the cell and simply disappeared did not resonate with the diplomat. In a letter dripping in untruths on August 16 2008 she decried the “erroneous and irresponsible media reports regarding the arrest of Ms Aafia Siddiqui”. She went on to say: “Unfortunately, there are some who have an interest in simply distorting the facts in an effort to manipulate and inflame public opinion. The truth is never served by sensationalism…” When Jamaat Islami invited me on a national tour of Pakistan to address people about the continued abuse of Dr Aafia and the truth about her incarceration in Bagram, the US Ambassador continued to issue rebuttals. She assured us all that Dr Aafia was being treated humanely had been given consular access as set out in international law … hmm. Well I have a challenge for Ms Patterson today. I challenge her to repeat every single word she said back then and swear it is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. As Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s trial got underway, the US Ambassador and some of her stooges from the intelligence world laid on a lavish party at the US Embassy in Islamabad for some hand-picked journalists where I’ve no doubt in between the dancing, drinks and music they were carefully briefed about the so-called facts of the case. Interesting that some of the potentially incriminating pictures taken at the private party managed to find the Ambassador was probably hoping to minimize the impact the trial would have on the streets of Pakistan proving that, for the years she has been holed up and barricaded behind concrete bunkers and barbed wire, she has learned nothing about this great country of Pakistan or its people. One astute Pakistani columnist wrote about her: “The respected lady seems to have forgotten the words of her own country’s 16th president Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865): “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”. And the people of Pakistan proved they are nobody’s fool and responded to the guilty verdict in New York in an appropriate way. When injustice is the law it is the duty of everyone to rise up and challenge that injustice in any way possible. The response – so far – has been restrained and measured but it is just the start. A sentence has yet to be delivered by Judge Richard Berman in May. Of course there has been a great deal of finger pointing and blame towards the jury in New York who found Dr Aafia guilty of attempted murder. Observers asked how they could ignore the science and the irrefutable facts … there was absolutely no evidence linking Dr Aafia to the gun, no bullets, no residue from firing it. But I really don’t think we can blame the jurors for the verdict – you see the jury simply could not handle the truth.    Had they taken the logical route and gone for the science and the hard, cold, clinical facts it would have meant two things.  It would have meant around eight US soldiers took the oath and lied in court to save their own skins and careers or it would have meant that Dr Aafia Siddiqui was telling the truth. And, as I said before, the jury couldn’t handle the truth. Because that would have meant that the defendant really had been kidnapped, abused, tortured and held in dark, secret prisons by the US before being shot and put on a rendition flight to New York. It would have meant that her three children – two of them US citizens – would also have been kidnapped, abused and tortured by the US. They say ignorance is bliss and this jury so desperately wanted not to believe that the US could have had a hand in the kidnapping of a five-month -old baby boy, a five-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother. They couldn’t handle the truth … it is as simple as that. Well I, and many others across the world like me, can’t handle any more lies. America’s reputation is lying in the lowest gutters in Pakistan at the moment and it can’t sink any lower. The trust has gone, there is only a burning hatred and resentment towards a superpower which sends unmanned drones into villages to slaughter innocents. It is fair to say that America’s goodwill and credibility is all but washed up with most honest, decent citizens of Pakistan. And I think even Her Excellency Anne Patterson recognizes that fact which is why she is now keeping her mouth shut. If she has any integrity and any self respect left she should stand before the Pakistan people and ask for their forgiveness for the drone murders, the extra judicial killings, the black operations, the kidnapping, torture and rendition of its citizens, the water-boarding, the bribery, the corruption and, not least of all, the injustice handed out to Dr Aafia Siddiqui and her family. 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. * Yvonne Ridley is a patron of Cageprisoners which first brought the plight of Dr Aafia Siddiqui to the world’s attention shortly after her kidnap in March 2003. The award-winning, investigative journalist also co-produced the documentary In Search of Prisoner 650 with film-maker Hassan al Banna Ghani which concluded that the Grey Lady of Bagram was Dr Aafia Siddiqui