Friday, 11 March
4:00 pm
Jacob Javits Federal Building
26 Federal Plaza, New York
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/943197855777302/
Join supporters of Palestine at a citywide mobilization to Free Dr. Aafia Siddiqui!, a Pakistani political prisoner held by the United States government since her abduction from Pakistan at the behest of US forces during their occupation of Afghanistan 13 years ago.
Political prisoner Aafia Siddiqui’s life is on the line. She has not had a prison visit with any family member or her lawyer in over a year. Aafia is a victim of the US torture program in Afghanistan and of continuing prison abuse in federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas.
Four demonstrations during March, Women’s History Month, are calling for an independent medical team, including Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui, a medical doctor who is Aafia’s sister, be permitted to visit her to evaluate her health. The demonstrations will also demand the repatriation of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to her home in Pakistan.
On March 30, 2003, Dr. Siddiqui and her three young children (ages six, for, and six months) were targeted in Karachi, Pakistan, in a rendition operation ordered by the US government – based on faulty “intelligence.” From 2003-2008 Aafia, and her children, were separately trapped in a black hole of secret imprisonment at various overseas locations. In 2008 she was brought back to NYC, barely clinging to life, and charged with attempting to shoot her way out of captivity that same year. While no one was injured except her, and while the forensic and testimonial evidence pointed to her innocence, Dr. Siddiqui was found guilty in 2010 and given a sentence of 86 years.
During her trial, Aafia called out many times her innocence and that she had been tortured and horribly abused. She pleaded for an end to the violent strip searches that preceded every day in court. She was continuously ruled disruptive and out of order.
Aafia is now imprisoned at Carswell Federal Prison, on a military base in Fort Worth, Texas.
An enormous movement of mass support for Aafia’s repatriation to Pakistan has swept Pakistan. Aafia has become a symbol of the thousands of disappeared prisoners. Millions of Pakistanis and all political parties from left to right, religious to secular, have demanded her return to Pakistan.
Support Rallies will be held in:
- Boston, Massachusetts – March 8th @ 4 PM MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Boston MA
- New York City – March 11th @ 4 PM Federal Building @ 320 Broadway
- Washington, DC – March 19th @ 12 Noon U.S. Dept. of Justice @ 950 Penn Ave NW
- Fort Worth, Texas – March 30th @ 6 PM FMC CARSWELL
Initial endorsers of NYC Free Aafia Demonstration – March 11, Aafia Movement, International Action Center, Islamic Leadership Council, Majlis Ashura NY, Lynne Stewart Defense Committee, Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, National Coalition to Protest Civil Freedoms, New Abolitionist Movement, NY4Palestine, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, Project Salam, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, South Asian Fund for Education, Scholarship and Training, United National Antiwar Coalition.
