AAFIA MOVEMENT

Awareness Dinner Urges Repatriation

Jan. 28, 2011

Campaigners urge Dr Aafia Siddiqui repatriation

London: At a press conference in London, Dr Aafia's supporters said her conviction was a gross miscarriage of justice and that Pakistani politicians had failed to support one of their own citizens. Prominent supporters demanded that an independent medical team be sent to assess Dr Aafia's state of mind
Yvonne Ridley, who has campaigned fervently for Dr Aafia's cause, shared her journey of discovering and then raising awareness that there was in fact a female prisoner in Bagram, who had come to be known as the Grey Lady, and also as Prisoner 650. Allegations of this woman being tortured abound, and during a subsequent trip to Pakistan there was much public support for her release. Lord Nazir Ahmed, a famous politician and peer who has fought for Dr Aafia to be repatriated, gave a practical set of action points that anyone feeling the injustice of this case can follow in an effort to bring justice to Aafia Siddiqui and her young family.These include lobbying local MP's, and US congressmen and women. By bringing this issue into our mosques and community centres, and writing letters calling for her repatriation to our national newspapers, one may attain greater awareness of the incongruities of the fragile case against this mother of three and eminent academic.
One overwhelming conclusion of this awareness event is that Dr Siddiqui has been reported to have developed a psychiatric condition known as Psychosis, diagnosed in 2008 by US prison psychologist Diane Mclean, in which the sufferer has a loss of contact with reality. Dr Ihtesham Sabri spoke about the effects that this condition can have on altering an individual's mental capacity to consent and also in making any decisions, not least to stand trial in such a perilous case. He also expressed concern that it would be unlikely for a person of Dr Siddiqui's circumstances and stage of life to develop this distressing condition without external factors such as sensory deprivation techniques, and cited UK politicians who had accused MI5 of outsourcing and complicity in torture. He called for an urgent independent medical delegation to be allowed to visit and assess Dr Siddiqui in the USA where she is now incarcerated.