Pakistani diplomat rubbishes rumours of Aafia Siddiqui's death

Consul General meets held neuroscientist at Texas prison

Pakistan Consul General in Houston Ayesha Farouqi has categorically dismissed 'baseless' rumours about Aafia Siddiqui's death, Express News reported on Thursday.

Farouqi met Siddiqui at a Houston jail recently. The meeting lasted for two hours. This is the Pakistani diplomat's fourth meeting with the incarcerated neuroscientist over 14 months, a statement issued by the Pakistan consulate in Houston said. "The rumors are baseless," Ayesha Farouqi was quoted as having remarked.

Earlier, unverified reports of the held neuroscientist having passed had gained traction on social media.



While campaigners for Siddiqui have consistently said that she was arrested and handed over to intelligence agencies that then transferred her into US custody, the charge has been denied by the previous government and US officials.

Siddiqui, an MIT graduate, allegedly went missing for five years before she was discovered in Afghanistan.It is said that she tried to fire on a US soldier during interrogation. She has also been accused of working for Al-Qaeda. Siddiqui’s kin dispute the American version of this account.