March 30 "Black Wednesday" Events
March ,31 2011
Several events were held around the globe to mark the 8th Anniversary of the kidnapping of Aafia and her children from Karachi in March 2003 by officials of the Pakistani militarygovernment.
Groups in Pakistan commemorated the begining of Dr. Aafia's 9th year in captivity.
Many messages of support were also received. A selection is posted below:
BRUCE KENT :
Vice President of Pax Christi and an ardent supporter of the campaign for freedom and justice for Dr Aafia Siddiqui.
Dear all,
It is, in a cruel world, one of the cruellest stories I have ever heard. How can 'civilised' people and even 'religious' people behave this way?
If we can’t do much more, at least we must not ever keep quiet.
Persistent voices do get heard. There is always hope – the Mandela release is proof of that; but how many times before it happened I thought to myself that his case was hopeless. I was wrong.
LAUREN BOOTH:
Journalist and Broadcaster, Ms. Booth is also the sister in law of former British PM, Tony Blair
.
"To all those who continue to fight for Dr Aafia Siddiqui's release, I would like to add my voice to your calls for justice.
Of all the words that have been written about this terrible case, one phrase, sticks in my mind:
'The Victim has become the accused.'
From the very start of her and her family’s torment, Dr Siddiqui's injuries, her incarceration, the brutal way in which the US authorities treated her, were twisted and used as PROOF of her guilt.
In this age, where US aggression is painted as 'aid'; where drone attacks on villagers in Pakistan, are sold to a willing media as in 'our' interest, this mother's existence has been allowed to become, a living death.
The violence carried out on her, her eight year incarceration, twisted until a gullible, ill informed, public, actually see the victim as the accused.
This is the fight that must be addressed.
BARONESS SARAH LUDFORD:
Lady Ludford is the Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for London
Dear friends,
Thank you for coming here today to mark the 8th anniversary of Aafia’s abduction. I’m sorry that I cannot be with you, as Liberal Democrat European Justice and Human Rights spokesperson, to add my voice to the call for justice for Aafia.
This occasion represents a great opportunity not only to raise awareness of Aafia’s situation and demonstrate our solidarity with her, but also to expose the shocking treatment by the United States of certain suspects and prisoners.
I utterly condemn the secret abduction and detention of any person and deplore the denial of the basic right to a fair trial.
As a champion of democracy, liberty and the rule of law the US must uphold these principles in its treatment of prisoners. There can be no denial of human rights for these are absolute and untouchable.
I call on the United States to stand by its obligations to international human rights law, as well as, at the very least, to allow Aafia contact with her family.
LINDSEY GERMAN:
Stop the Ware Coalition
Greetings from the Stop the War Coalition and good luck with your demonstration. The Justice for Aafia Coalition is doing a great job in keeping this case in the public eye and in trying to achieve justice for Aafia. She and her family are some of the victims of the war on terror, which the US and Britain have been waging for almost a decade. In that time millions have been killed or had their lives ruined through displacement, destruction of their homes and livelihoods, or imprisonment.
Aafia's case and her sentence are both particularly shocking. They are, however, the outcome of a war which criminalises whole communities and deems any opponents of the war as terrorists or extremists.
Recent figures for compensation payouts to Afghans for death or injury as a result of the war show the scale of destruction there. The war has spread to Pakistan, whose population is suffering drone attacks instituted by President Obama.
Now the US, Britain and France are attacking Libya in the name of humanity and helping ordinary people. All our past experience shows that it will do nothing to help people or bring peace.
The war has increased attacks on civil liberties, and has raised the level of Islamophobia in the western countries. For all these reasons, we will continue to oppose the wars and we stand in solidarity with your campaign.'
