Rally seeks early release of Aafia Siddiqui

PESHAWAR: The Aafia Movement on Thursday staged a demonstration against the incarceration of Dr Aafia Siddiqui in the US for the last 19 years and demanded her immediate release.

Led by the provincial leaders of Aafia Movement, Inamullah Marwat and Waseem Abbasi and carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans in favour of Dr Aafia Saddiqui, the protesters gathered outside the Peshawar Press Club.

They chanted slogans against the American government injustices with the daughter of the nation and urged the government to take practical steps for the immediate release and recovery of Dr Aafia Saddiqui.

Terming March 31, 2003 as black day in history, the speakers recalled that Dr Aafia Siddiqui along with her three minor children was kidnapped and kept in Bagram prison in Afghanistan illegally for five years.

Later, they said Dr Aafia Siddiqui was shifted to a US jail and obtained a court verdict against her in a fake and fabricated case. This, they said, was a unique case in the history of the world. They said Dr Aafia was not only a Hafiz-i- Quran but also a PhD degree holder and was actively working for peace in the world.

However, she was implicated in a fake case and kept behind bars in US for years for the crime, which she didn’t commit, they added.