Human Rights day 10th Dec
Calls to repatriate Dr Aafia Siddiqi on International Human Rights Day
Wednesday 10th December 2014 at 1pm
Friends of Dr Aafia Siddiqi
On International Human Rights Day on Wednesday 10th December 2014 at 1pm, there will be a meeting at the Pakistani Consulate in Manchester to highlight the plight of Dr Aafia Siddiqi, a Pakistani woman scientist. Friends of Dr Aafia Siddiqi state that her family has had no contact with Aafia for more than 9 months, and have no ways of knowing if she is alive or if alive in what mental state she is now. Dr Aafia Siddiqi has been imprisoned in the US since 2008 after five years of secret imprisonment overseas.
Article 36 of the Vienna Convention clearly gives the Pakistani Consulate full access to Dr Aafia’s wellbeing. The friends of Aafia Siddiqi are calling the Pakistani Consulate to do the following:
1. To allow an independent medical team into FMC Carswell prison, Texas, US, to conduct a full examination of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. The evaluation team should include her sister, Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui, a practicing physician in Karachi, Pakistan.
2. To engage in serious discussions on the repatriation of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to her home country Pakistan, to allow her to serve out the remainder of her sentence there, under the appropriate international law.
3. Until such time as repatriation takes place, to insure that Dr. Siddiqui’s human rights are respected by both U.S. and international law.
Dr Aafia Siddiqi has a fundamental right to life without discrimination under the constitution of Pakistan, USA and international conventions. She is entitled to humane treatment and deserves to have her civil and human rights observed, irrespective of the charges placed on her
This year’s slogan, Human Rights 365, encompasses the idea that every day is Human Rights Day. It celebrates the fundamental proposition in the Universal Declaration that each one of us, everywhere, and at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights, which bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values.
The Pakistani Consulate
Dickenson Road
Manchester M14 5JB
Wednesday December 10th, 2014
To the Consul General of Pakistan Mr Zahoor Ahmed,
We send you this letter to discuss the case of a Pakistani national, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, imprisoned in the United States for the past six years (after five years of secret imprisonment and torture overseas).
In July 2014, close to 110,000 people signed a White House Petition during a one month period calling for the release and repatriation of Dr. Siddiqui. No reply was given by the White House to this petition despite the fact that only 1% of petitions reach the threshold of 100,000 signatures within a month. Furthermore, her appeal in the US was mysteriously withdrawn by Judge Berman in November this year.
Deeply concerned, a delegation of 100 persons travelled to the Pakistan Consulate in Houston to remind the Consulate of their oversight responsibility.
On November 19, 2014, a Pakistani consular official, Ms. Saadia Qazi, traveled from Houston to FMC Carswell in Texas, home of the prison hospital where Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is imprisoned, to facilitate a telephone visit for the Siddiqui family in Karachi, Pakistan, with Dr. Aafia Sidiqui. Despite repeated efforts, the Siddiqui family had not been able to communicate with their loved one in months, and didn’t know if she was still alive or dead.
The November 19th effort was not successful. The prisoner, said to be Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, was uncooperative and the consular official never saw her face. Needless to say, the incident raised even more questions about the status of Dr. Siddiqui’s physical and psychological well-being.
Dr Aafia Siddiqi has a fundamental right to life, without discrimination under the constitution of Pakistan, USA and international conventions. She is entitled to humane treatment and deserves to have her civil and human rights observed, irrespective of the charges placed on her.
The Article 36 of the Vienna Convention clearly gives Pakistani Embassy full access to Dr Aafia’s wellbeing and merely taking the prison’s word or saying Dr Aafia refused to speak is not enough. It is the duty of the embassy to provide Dr Aafia, who is a Pakistani citizen, full communication access through Skype, phone, visits, medical, or psychological independent evaluations. Consequently, we are asking the Pakistani Consulate to use all that is in their capacity within the Article 36 of the Vienna Convention to ask for the following:
1. To allow an independent medical team into FMC Carswell to conduct a full examination of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. The evaluation team should include her sister, Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui, a practicing physician in Karachi, Pakistan.
2. To engage in serious discussions on the repatriation of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to her home country Pakistan, to allow her to serve out the remainder of her sentence there, under the appropriate international law.
3. Until such time as repatriation takes place, to insure that Dr. Siddiqui’s human rights are respected by both U.S. and international law.
We are sisters in Islam fulfilling their duty as Muslimahs and human beings fulfilling their duty of justice, who are deeply concerned about the well-being of our sister in Islam Dr Aafia Siddiqi, and as such expect the Pakistani government to fulfill both those duties too in sha Allah.
Best regards,
Friends of Dr Aafia Siddiqi
