Dr Aafia's release 'a matter of days', says Dr Zaidi

KARACHI:

Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist incarcerated in a US prison, is expected to be released within the next few days, according to Prof Dr Muhammad Iqbal Zaidi, a member of the delegation that recently visited the US to lobby for her release.

In an interview with The Express Tribune, Dr Zaidi, a psychiatrist, said that Dr Aafia is suffering from severe health complications. However, he hoped that outgoing US President Joe Biden would commute her sentence before leaving office on January 20.

However, he added that if Biden does not act, the Pakistani government will engage with incoming President Donald Trump to address the matter.

Dr Zaidi revealed that a three-member state-level delegation had travelled to the US to advocate for Dr Aafia's release.

Although they aimed to meet President Biden, a visa delay prevented the meeting. Instead, the delegation held discussions with several US senators and State Department officials to lobby for her release.

Furthermore, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had written to President Biden, urging him to grant Dr Aafia's release on humanitarian grounds.

Dr Aafia has served 16 years in prison for charges of attempting murder, a crime for which the maximum sentence under US law is 10 years. However, she was handed an unprecedented 86-year sentence. Dr Zaidi noted that Dr Aafia has been separated from her children for 20 years.

"While she is not widely known in the US, almost 99% of Pakistanis and many across the Muslim world are familiar with her case," said Dr Zaidi.

He added that her release would improve America's image among Pakistan's 250 million citizens and the global Muslim population of 2 billion.

Dr Zaidi, who personally examined Dr Aafia at her solitary confinement facility in Dallas, said that she is in a state of severe mental distress and suffering from various medical conditions.

He hoped that her health would improve if she was repatriated to Pakistan and provided a supportive environment.

Dr Aafia was intercepted in Karachi in March 2003 while travelling with her three children. She went missing for five years, and it was later revealed in 2008 that she had been imprisoned in Afghanistan. She was subsequently transferred to the US.

Two of her children, Ahmed and Maryam, were released in 2008 and 2010, respectively, but the whereabouts of her son, Sulaiman, remain unknown.