The Aafia Fact Sheet

1. Aafia Siddiqui came to the US from Karachi, Pakistan in 1990 for higher
education. She did her freshman year at the University of Houston (Texas),
and later received a full scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.

2. In 1991 Aafia matriculated to MIT. A few years later, after graduating with
honors from MIT, she attended Brandeis University where she was
awarded a PhD in cognitive neuroscience.

3. At all three universities Aafia was known for her passionate commitment
to dawah (the teaching and spread of Islam). This attracted a negative
response from certain bigoted interests (especially Zionists) within the
Boston metropolitan area.

4. In 2002, following 12 years of fruitful study in America, Aafia returned

home accompanied by her husband and two young children. (At the time
she was pregnant with a third child.)

5. In post 9/11 America a cloud of suspicion followed Aafia home. Why?

Simply because of her lawful extracurricular activities while being an
exceptional student. Her activism also included humanitarian relief work
during the Bosnian crisis of the early to mid-90s.

6. In March 2003 she and her children were targets of a rendition operation;
kidnapped from her home city of Karachi by American and Pakistani
agents (based on bad “intelligence”).

7. From 2003 to 2008 Aafia and her children disappeared into a black hole.
They were among the many disappeared of Pakistan, and elsewhere, in the
wake of the so-called global “War on Terror.”

8. In 2008 four Arab Muslim men escaped from the Bagram Air Base where
they had been secretly imprisoned and tortured. They told stories of a lone
Muslim woman who was being held there; a woman known both by her
number “Prisoner 650” and as the “Grey Lady of Bagram.” She was later
positively identified as Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

9. In an attempt to eliminate the evidence of their crime, her captors

transported her from Bagram in 2008, briefly reunited her with her son
(Ahmed)—who was also imprisoned at a different location—and set them
up to be killed.
10. An unarmed and diminished Aafia Siddiqui was later shot by an American
soldier, returned to the US (in violation of Afghan sovereignty and
international law) and charged with “attempted murder” of US personnel
in Afghanistan.

11. While no one was injured but Aafia; and despite the fact that the alleged
scenario which formed the basis of her prosecution made no sense (and
had no forensic evidence to support it), Aafia Siddiqui was found guilty of
all charges in a federal courthouse just blocks away from “Ground Zero”—
and subsequently given an imprisonment sentence of 86 years.

12. Today, this once academically brilliant and spiritually gifted hafidah of
Qur’an is imprisoned on a military reserve base in Fort Worth, Texas—a
mere shell of her former self; now 18 years into a 86 year sentence.

13. The late [former US Attorney General] Ramsey Clark once described Aafia’s
plight as, “The worst case of individual injustice I have ever
witnessed.” We agree!

In conclusion:

The Aafia Foundation (based in Metro-Washington, DC) with a coalition of

partners, has launched a “Five City Mobilization” to bring action-oriented
attention to this grave injustice. Successful rallies have already been held in
Houston and Fort Worth, Texas. The remaining cities are:

New York (Oct 20th); Boston (Oct 23rd); and Washington, DC (Nov 13 th).

Please support this effort in whatever way you can. Help spread the word; and
by all means, join us if possible!

May ALLAH abundantly bless all who do. Ameen.

The Aafia Foundation

Info@aafia.org
www.aafia.org