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Then spoke Aafia
I sat among the audience in the courtroom watching the sentencing proceedings of Aafia Siddiqui on September 23.
aziz.akhmad@tribune.com.pk
I sat among the audience in the courtroom of federal judge Richard Berman, in Lower Manhattan, watching the sentencing proceedings of Aafia Siddiqui, on September 23.
Before Aafia Siddiqui spoke, her lawyer made what sounded, at least to me, a compassionate plea for a minimum sentence. She argued that Aafia Siddiqui was not mentally stable, or words to that effect, because of the impossible circumstances she had been through. That she needed professional care and compassion rather than a long term in prison. The lawyer concluded her plea by asking for a sentence not more than 12 years.
All this time, Afia Sidddiqui sat quietly, clad in a beige niqab, only her eyes visible. At times she would place her head on the table in front of her, as if not interested in what her lawyer was saying, or would stretch back into the chair clasping her head in both hands, as if exasperated. Soon after her lawyer finished, she stood up and asked the judge if she could say something. The judge said yes.
Then Aafia spoke. It was as if a dam had been breached; the words came gushing out of her mouth like a torrent. She spoke in a sharp voice and flawless English. Every once in a while she would pause and ask the audience, like a teacher in a classroom: “Do you understand what I am saying?” At one point the judge had to say, yes, we all understand you very clearly. Sometimes during the course of her speech she would break into a short, agitated laughter. Once, she even made a humorous comment about her trial referring to the court as Manhattan Institute of Theatrics, a pun on MIT, her alma mater.
She declared at the outset that she was not tortured or mistreated in jail (in Texas). She said if you hear people saying otherwise don’t believe them. She then quoted a verse from the Quran to the effect that when you hear something, verify it before you believe it. She said she was not mentally unbalanced, as her defence lawyers had tried to make out and that she did not trust them.
Several times she said she loved America and had no hostility against Americans or anyone. She also thanked the soldiers who, she said, did not harm or mistreated her daughter in captivity (in Afghanistan?).
Until this moment in her speech, Aafia sounded fairly coherent, but then she said something about dreams she had been seeing. She said she saw the Prophet (pbuh), in a dream. The Prophet, (pbuh) she said, came to a room full of American soldiers who were standing with their hands behind their backs; he went from one room to another, all full of soldiers. She said the Prophet (pbuh) then turned to her and said: all these soldiers are innocent and I forgive them. At another point she said, she also saw Jesus in a dream. Frankly, at this point I began to wonder about her state of mind.
After the judge announced the sentence, he told Aafia she could appeal against his decision. Her response was: no, she would not appeal. She would appeal only to God. Only He could help him.
Miracles do happen, but you cannot totally rely upon them. Therefore, wouldn’t it be better if, simultaneously, Siddiqui’s family finds a good lawyer of their choice and appeal in the appropriate US appellate court?
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2010.
Reader Comments (23)
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Seriously, she isnt mentally stableRecommend
this whole Aafia stuff is getting on my nerves.. i mean for God’s sake, we have hundreds of thousands of “only Pakistani” nationality women who are being treated in the most barbaric way possible.. why not focus all our attention towards them rather than cashing in on this Aafia Mafia..
This is not for the writer who just gave an eye witness of what happened in the court room, but my plea is to all those who are just getting onto this Aafia bandwagon and neglecting far more important issues close to home…
If she chose to become a US citizen, fair enough… let her be dealt with by the US authorities.. We have myriad women who have no other nationality, so they deserve all this cyber and print and protest space..Recommend
Aafia is not an American citizen. Her trial in a US court was not legal. The crime was allegedly committed in Afghanistan and she was not extradited to the US through any legal process. Second, if killing of a US citizen can become a ground for trial in a US court, why was not Omar Saeed Sheikh extradited and tried in the US. Omar Saeed Sheikh killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.Recommend
Mr. Aziz Hirani how naive are you? The points raised in your comment shows that you are trying to show your name to someone on the basis of hate and you did not read the case nor you have any knowledge.Recommend
Where is our media reporting this… they are only interested in injecting emotions…. and making her pakistan kee baiteeee…Recommend
It reminds me of a very important saying by a very noted psychiatrist(I am forgetting his name)…”If you are talking to God,you are praying,,,,but if God is talking to you,you need treatment,(Schizophrenia)”.
People in the past have narated their dreams,in which they claim to have seen and met Holy Prophets.There is no mechanism as yet which can analyse or recall the dreams of others.Therefore only yardstick to the authenticity of the statement made by any one is the past record of his/her credibility.Recommend
Sad story, if this is true then the Judge presiding this case needs to be treated for serious psychological disorder.Recommend
extremely sad….no doubt her mental capacity was not at par. innocent or not i m not arguing that. cause a public trial gave her a verdict and we should respect that(or appeal otherwise)
but surely her sentence for 86 years is extremely harsh and totally uncall for.
but i do agree women in pakistan are subjected to many many times worse crisis in feudal society so lets worry about the daughters of nation that are being provided with injustice at our own handsRecommend
It is unfortunate that we have spent so much space, time and money on an American citizen’s trial. And yet, hundreds of thousands of innocent people, men and women, are being held across Pakistani jails in conditions which would make any sane person inane within a day; they languish there without media saying anything and without MQM taking out rallies for their return. Why just afia. Just because she is an American-Pakistani Muslim being held in USA for charges which have now been proved?Recommend
This is an interesting write-up, but I seriously doubt if any TV anchor, Urdu columnist or political leader would take note of it. I am not suggesting that they must agree with it, but at least they should consider it worthy of their attention. The problem is that this matter has become so emotive and rationality has been totally pushed aside.
We seem to have lost our ability to discuss things in a civilized manner. Perhaps we are incapable of disagreeing without being disagreeable. No wonder, democracy has not yet taken root in our country. After 63 years of independent existence, we don’t even agree on the usefulness of democracy. We, as a nation, don’t know whether democracy is a good system or not.
I would request the The Express Tribune editor to ask commentators to avoid indecent language. Such language should be edited out promptly. Otherwise, nobody would feel comfortable about commenting on this website.Recommend
the article is informative and very neutral.the writer never showed any emotion which people show when writing about Aafia, i think Aafia’s family either was not interested or they became a game in the hands of political parties much is to blame is her sister who looked she wanted to have a ticket for the next elections.Recommend
Mr. Aziz, your whole report of the event was written on a very fast pace skimming through most of the stuff but you subtley emphasized on length about Afia’s dreams. hmmm, maybe not so deliberately but you are saying she isn’t stable mentally. I dont think you are an expert of any sort so leave it to the experts to judge her mental faculty. Simple.Recommend
aziz:
if ‘reports’ are to be believed…she was kidnapped, incarcerated, raped and or abused…after she left the US…and her children were taken away…in short…enough to wreck mental havoc on any women…
so if your observations are correct, it is no wonder…..Recommend
//She then quoted a verse from the Quran to the effect that when you hear something, verify it before you believe it.//
If such an Ayet exists in the Holy Book, then The Prophet was certainly aware of it. The question is: Did he verify all the massages received from The Almighty through the Angel Gabrielle?Recommend
I wonder where are all the liberated ladies from the NGOs, who never tire of talking about human rights. Even if Afia was involved in something, the sentence she has received on the charges framed are not proportionate to the crime alleged. I agree with those who state that as a mother, she should have given priority to raise her children. It is unfortunate that our government and our ambassador has failed to protect the legitimate right of a citizen of Pakistan, especially when she is a lady. For the sake of her children, this poor unfortunate women needs to be helped. I am sure that if the govt tries real hard, they can repatriate her back to Pakistan. However I do not trust our Ambassador, whose loyalty to Pakistan is split, because he is an American national, or holds a green card.Recommend
If she a US citizen, let the US treat her the way it wants and if she is Pakistani citizen, then no use to keep hopes with Pakistani govt because the govt is as good as a dead body, lying on a street; a nuisance.Recommend
People usually abuse Aafia mafia claiming for other thousands of womens being abused nationally. Question arises, when such a leading, acclaimed worldwide and not so tough for government, case couldn’t be solved than how all those graved cases will be given justice.
When such high institutions are failing than how those small unknown cases will be resolved. Aafia case could be the way for justice of other cases.
I think this Aafia case, if solved, could be the optimistic platform on which an organization could be developed for other women. If remain unsolved, the current organizations which worked for Aafia will end in despair and all efforts for women rights will be ended.Recommend
Let us be realistic to what would happen if she, some how, gets released from the claws of Zionist ridden legal system: upon her arrival, she would be heavily cheered by masses, and declared a unmatchable leader of Muslim women and men around the country. She would be interviewed and questioned by hundreds of reporters, international and national. Mass rallies would be taken out in her command, she would speak in front of thousands of people with her typical MIT-ian accent, that would get severe attention in this west-looking society. She would definitely declare herself a leader (or would be declared), and majority of this country’s population would follow her, without a single question. I bet at one stage, she would become even more powerful than the current administration, and eventually her blind followers will over throw the government. Elections would be held, and if held transparently, she has no other option than to win unanimously.
Wake up!! it wasn’t meant to get you dreaming, but my point is simple. The second last assertion of above paragraph says, ‘she will overthrow the government with her followers’. So, not only she can be used as a tool to overthrow current government, but also, she can be used at any instance of time to overthrow any government in existence in Pakistan. Now, she is more a tool – a very very powerful tool, being hidden only under a burqa! :)Recommend
It sounds true that US case in Afia’s trial is not transparent nor is the sentence a normal one in any sense of the world.
However, having said this, a lot of people, and unfortunately MQM and Jamaat Islami in particular are only in the game to enhance their political capital. The amount of time and of money that has been spent on this case by yhis poor nation of Pakistanis is enormous and there will never be anything to show for it. It is of no use saying whether Afia is or is not in right state of her mind, What is correct is that the Pakistani nation has something wrong with its psyche. IUt seeks virtual non-issues to get worked up about rather than matters of real concern. Afia has chosen to become the daughter of international jihad and perhaps could not care less about what happens to this unfortunate nation of Pakistan. The people taking out rallies should remember that.Recommend
What the writer is trying to say, between the lines, is that all these MQMs and JIs, who are blowing hot and cold indulging in empty rhetoric, should pool money to find a top lawyer of their choice and appeal. There is no other way. There are greater chances of getting justice in America than in Pakistan.Recommend
Some terrible editorial mistakes in the article! Made an otherwise interesting piece of writing quite tediousRecommend
What exactly were the charges levied against her that called for an 86 year sentence.and consecutive sentence at that. Makes one wonder what she knows that the american inteligencia does not want out there?Recommend
My theory is she is a double agent… turned against america… but she had loads of opportunity to talk in teh couirt… never said any word which could sound fishy… may be threatened harm her kids.. but something mystery is behind.. just like teh british CIA killer who was hired by MI5 and then backfiredRecommend