Aafia Siddiqui

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Aafia Siddiqui


place_of_birth = Pakistan
date_of_arrest = March 2003
place_of_arrest= Karachi
arresting_authority=
date_of_release =
place_of_release=
date_of_death =
place_of_death =
citizenship =
detained_at = suspected of being held in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility
charge = Assaulting and attempting to kill US personnel.
status =
occupation = neuroscientist
image_size = 150x200px
image_caption = Facial composite of Aafia Siddiqui -- suspected of being a ghost prisoner
date_of_birth = Birth date and age|1972|03|02
spouse = Mohammed Khan 1995/6-02/03
Ammar al-Baluchi ?-?
children = Maryam(96), Ahmed(98)(aka Ali Hassan), Suleman(02)

Aafia Siddiqui (Urdu: عافيہ صديقی) (DOB used: March 2, 1972) is a MIT and Brandeis alumna, originally from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. In 2004, she was accused by the United States Government of being "associated with al-Qaeda". In March 2003, Siddiqui went missing along with her three children. In August 2008, she was charged in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York with assaulting and attempting to kill US personnel while in detention in Afghanistan.

Biography

Aafia Siddiqui was born in Pakistan in March 1972. She came to the United States, and after attending University of Houston [cite web
url= http://muslimmatters.org/2008/08/18/the-grey-lady-of-bagram-dr-aafia-siddiqui/|title= The Grey Lady of Bagram: Dr. Aafia Siddiqui|accessdate= 2008-08-20
author= Amad S|date= 2008-08-18|publisher= MuslimMatters.org|quote= ] for her freshman year, she transferred to MIT in the Boston, Massachusetts area. As a sophomore at MIT in 1992, Siddiqui received a Carroll L. Wilson Award for her research proposal "Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women" [ [http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/wilson_award.php] ] . As a junior, Siddiqui received a $1,200 fellowship through MIT's LINKS program to help clean up Cambridge elementary school playgrounds. During her undergraduate career, she lived in McCormick Hall and worked at the MIT libraries. She graduated from MIT in 1995.

In 1996, a year after she graduated, she wrote an article for the MIT Information Systems newsletter about how to download computer programs using the File Transfer Protocol and the then-emerging World Wide Web.

In 1999, while living in Boston, she and Khan founded the nonprofit Institute of Islamic Research and Teaching.

She subsequently went on to graduate study in Neuroscience at Brandeis University, receiving a Ph.D. degree in 2001 for her dissertation, entitled "Separating the Components of Imitation".

She was married to anesthesiologist Mohammed Khan until 2002/2003. They have 3 children: Maryam(96), Ahmed(98)(aka Ali Hassan), and Suleman(02). Khan is now working as a physician at a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Khan and Siddiqui divorced because Khan was linked to Al-Qaeda thru his wife. Khan's family lives in a wealthy compound in Karachi.

Siddiqui is reported by the US government to be married to Ammar al-Baluchi.

2001 money trail

Siddiqui was an account holder at Fleet National Bank in Boston. According to documents obtained by "Newsweek", in 2001, Siddiqui was making regular debit-card payments to an Islamic charity front, Benevolence International, which is now banned by the UN. In addition, Siddiqui was found to be active with the Al Kifah Refugee Center, another Islamic charity that was ostensibly raising funds for Bosnian orphans but which also was under federal investigation. Fleet Bank security officers began tracking a money trail from the Saudi Embassy that led to Siddiqui, resulting in more "links" that "shocked" the bank security officers, according to an investigative report in "Newsweek" that incorrectly identifies Siddiqui as a microbiologist. [ [http://www.newsweek.com/id/53487 Terror Watch:Tangled Ties] , MSNBC, "Newsweek", April 7, 2004, Column/Terror Watch, Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball]

The "Boston Herald" reported March 23, 2003 that until August 2001, Siddiqui lived in a Mission Hill neighborhood high-rise apartment building in Boston that was frequented by Saudi nationals. Siddiqui's specific address in the building was identified as apartment number 2008. Another Fleet Bank customer, Hatem Al Dhahri, also listed his address as number 2008 in that same building. Al Dhahri and Siddiqui's accounts were both active and current in the fall of 2001, but it is unknown whether they shared the apartment at the same time. A Saudi Embassy spokesman said that Al Dhahri has been interrogated by the FBI and has denied any knowledge of Siddiqui.

Subsequent to the Fleet National Bank investigation, Aafia Siddiqui's husband was found to be purchasing high-tech military equipment. According to Newsweek, FBI documents also stated that Khan, Siddiqui’s husband, had purchased body armor, night-vision goggles and a variety of military manuals that were supposed to be sent to Pakistan. Fleet National Bank accounts associated with the couple also showed "major purchases" from U.S. airlines and hotels in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and North Carolina as well as an $8,000 international wire transfer on December 21, 2001, to Habib Bank, the largest bank in Pakistan.

Newsweek reported that Fleet National Bank investigators discovered that one account used by the Boston-area couple showed repeated debit-card purchases from stores that "specialize in high-tech military equipment and apparel", including Black Hawk Industries in Chesapeake, Virginia, and Brigade Quartermasters in Georgia. (Black Hawk's website advertises grips, mounts and parts for AK-47s and other military-assault rifles as well as highly specialized combat clothing, including vests designed for bomb disposal).

The Fleet National Bank reports detailing all the transactions were filed with the U.S. Treasury Department, and suggest that Siddiqui and her estranged husband, Dr. Mohammed Amjad Khan, may have been active terror plotters inside the country until as late as the summer of 2002.

Allegations from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence asserts that Siddiqui has ties to Guantanamo captive Ammar al-Baluchi cite news| url=http://www.odni.gov/announcements/content/DetaineeBiographies.pdf
title=Biographies of 14 Guantanamo Bay suspects| publisher=Office of the Director of National Intelligence| author=| date=| accessdate=2008-07-29
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.odni.gov%2Fannouncements%2Fcontent%2FDetaineeBiographies.pdf&date=2008-07-29 mirror] ] :

Rape allegations

"Reuters" reports that Siddiqui's family believes she was raped, in addition to being tortured, while in Bagram.

Location of Siddiqui's children

After Siddiqui re-emerged the current location of her three children, who were with her in the cab where she was believed to have first been apprehended, in 2003, was the subject of speculation.cite news
url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=128570
title=Release her children at least
publisher=The International News
date=2008-08-07
accessdate=2008-08-07
quote=I don't know if Dr Siddiqui has done anything illegal or not but the way she has been picked and handed over to US authorities along with three innocent children is a violation of basic human rights and human dignity. What happened to moral values, respect for law and human rights? If she has done something wrong, she should have been held accountable in the court of law and punished. But why detain her illegally, along with three children, without any charge whatsoever for five years? [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenews.com.pk%2Fdaily_detail.asp%3Fid%3D128570&date=2008-08-07 mirror] ] cite news
url=http://dailymailnews.com/200808/08/dmeditorialpage.html
title=Let this mom go!
publisher=Daily Mail
date=2008-08-09
accessdate=2008-08-04
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdailymailnews.com%2F200808%2F08%2Fdmeditorialpage.html&date=2008-08-09 mirror] ] Because her children were born while she was a US resident they are American citizens.

On August 9 2008 her sister Fauzia Siddiqui said that the family had been receiving assurances from the Pakistani Government authorities that she and her children were healthy during the five years her location was unknown.cite news
url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=16527
title=Musharraf’s son accused of pocketing bounty for Dr Aafia
publisher=The News (Pakistan)
author=Usman Manzoor
date=2008-08-09
accessdate=2008-08-09
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenews.com.pk%2Ftop_story_detail.asp%3FId%3D16527&date=2008-08-09 mirror] ] :

The "Reuters" report stated that Siddiqui believed she had lost part of her intestines. Her lawyers told the judge they believed she was still suffering from internal bleeding. According to "Reuters"::

Christopher LaVigne, one of the Prosecutors, justified withholding medical care because she was a "high-security risk".The Prosecution was ordered to make sure she was seen by a doctor within 24 hours byJudge Robert Pitman.

Consular access

Aafia received consular access on August 9 2008.cite news
url=http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/10-Aug-2008/Pak-diplomat-meets-Aafia-Siddiqui
title=Pak diplomat meets Aafia Siddiqui
publisher=The Nation (Pakistan)
author=
date=2008-08-09
accessdate=2008-08-09
quote=A senior Pakistani Embassy diplomat, who met with Aafia Siddqui in the Brooklyn detention center on Saturday, assured her that the embassy would make all possible efforts to ensure that her rights as an under-trial prisoner were respected. [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nation.com.pk%2Fpakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online%2FPolitics%2F10-Aug-2008%2FPak-diplomat-meets-Aafia-Siddiqui&date=2008-08-09 mirror] ] cite news
url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008