Aafia Allowed Visit From Family Member After 2-1/2 Years!
Sept. 13, 2011
Visiting Aafia
A message from Aafia's family after Aafia is allowed to visit with her brother for the first time in almost 2-1/2 years:
Last April we were both honored and stunned when a hundred Americans gave up part of their Saturday to stand outside Carswell Prison for several hours in the hot Texas sun to support our family's effort to contact Aafia. The actions of those courageous people responding to a call by The Peace Thru Justice Foundation paid off almost immediately. Five days later Aafia was allowed to call her family and she got to hear her children's voices for the first time in eight years.
This demonstration also set off an unexpected chain of events. Within days the Pakistani Consulate responsible for the affairs of its citizens in Texas visited Carswell and began communication with prison officials.
On the weekend of September 10, 2011, Aafia's brother was finally allowed to visit her.
This was their first visit in almost two and a half years.
The last time they saw each other was at her sentencing hearing almost a year ago. Throughout the trial and sentencing proceedings they were not allowed to speak to each other and one of the court officers made a point of sitting directly between them so they couldn't see each other.
We believe this visit is the direct result of the willingness of American citizens to exercise their First Amendment right "of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances."
Our family would also like to thank the International Justice Network for their advice and support.
Credit must also be given to Pakistan's Consulate in Houston for their assistance and contributions in this effort.
Requests have been made for future visits in October and November.
We are troubled because this visit required so much effort and persistence by so many. The system says that as long as Aafia obeys prison rules she is entitled to have visitors. We have not been told that Aafia has violated the rules. We have been told that "our normal rules don't seem to apply to your sister."
We are not asking for special conditions or priveleges for Aafia. We are asking that the rules that apply to all the other prisoners be applied to her too.
Thank you for your support and God bless all of you.
Aafia's Family
