Dr Aafia still being subjected to 'sexual assault' in US prison, says lawyer

DALLAS: Dr Aafia Siddiqui's attorney in the United States, Clive Stafford Smith, has said that she is still being subjected to sexual assaults continuously at the Fort Worth jail in Texas. He added that a security guard “punished” her two weeks ago by raping her.

Dr Aafia, a Pakistani neuroscientist, was indicted by a New York federal district court in September 2008 on charges of attempted murder and assault, stemming from an incident during an interview with the US authorities in Ghazni, Afghanistan — charges that she denied.

After 18 months in detention, she was tried and convicted in early 2010 and sentenced to 86 years in prison. She has since been imprisoned in the US.

"Sexual abuse of Dr Aafia has not stopped so far," he disclosed while talking to Geo News on the phone after he met her.

"She is being consistently subjected to physical harassment."

The lawyer said that he talked to Dr Aafia on the phone through a glass wall when he met her on Thursday and Friday. He added that the phone was not working properly, hence, they had to shout to communicate. He complained to the jail authorities, and another phone was provided after two days.

Dr Aafia's attorney further said that when her sister Dr Fowzia visited her on Sunday, Aafia was crying. The prison authorities took her away but her sister remained locked in another room for one-and-a-half hours as the jail officials forgot about her, he said.

Replying to a question regarding the case, Clive Stafford Smith expressed optimism about the release of Dr Aafia. He said, "Currently, I am in New York. I am leaving for Washington tomorrow where I will meet some people who will brief the White House about the case."

He declined to share the names of officials he would meet. However, he said that there had been a lot of progress in the case and that they were moving in the right direction.