Ramadan Campaign for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui - Week of Action

[islamica]

Ramadan Campaign for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui - Week of Action

Monday July 15th through Thursday July 18th!
During the last week of May, 2013, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Muslim political prisoner, was physically assaulted in her prison cell and left unconscious and bleeding. She eventually received medical care after a two day delay.


We are calling on all supporters of Dr. Siddiqui as well as all supporters of political prisoners held here in the US to join our week of action for Dr. Siddiqui from Monday July 15th through Friday July 19th!

This is phase one of a broader campaign throughout the month of Ramadan. Details of the campaign, talking points, and a sample letter are below. This is your opportunity to take a stand against political targeting of Muslims and abuse of prisoners.


We are demanding the following:

1) An independent medical team from outside the Bureau of Prisons should be allowed to evaluate and treat Dr. Siddiqui;
2) Her religious rights should be respected, including the right to be free from humiliating and degrading strip searches, access to religious materials, and non-contact with male prison staff. It is also Ramadan, and she should be provided appropriate accommodations to allow her to follow a prayer and fasting schedule;
3) Permitted family visits (her last visit was over a year ago), without the usual degrading and punitive post-visit treatment that Dr. Siddiqui is exposed to; and
4) More vigorous efforts on the part of the Pakistani government, and its representatives in the United States, to have Dr. Siddiqui repatriated to Pakistan so that she can be reunited with her family and children.

More and sample letter @ http://www.justiceforaafia.org/take-...week-of-action

[aflawedbeing]

May Allah swt reward Aafia immensely, and fill her life in this dunya with ease. Ameen.

[Hamza Asadullah]

Subhanallah some hope at last that our beloved sister Aafia Siddiqui is to be released but there are harsh conditions set by the US as part of a prisoner swap deal:


ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has expressed its concern over the US government’s prisoners swap agreement with Pakistan, which calls for a release of Shakil Afridi in exchange for the release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

Dr. Afridi has been detained on charges of helping the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) hunt down Osama Bin Laden after which he was sentenced to 33-year jail in May last year for his links to a banned militant group.

Aafia was sentenced to 86-year jail on September 23, 2010 after she was found guilty on seven counts, including attempted murder. She is currently being held at an American maximum-security prison in Fort Worth, Texas.

According to US prosecutors, the day after her arrest, she grabbed an M-4 rifle in her interrogation room and started shooting while yelling “death to America.”

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf press release said that there are “serious issues” with accepting the conditions laid down by the US for the release of Aafia.

The US government’s conditions to release Aafia dictates that Pakistan accept that she is a terrorist and should complete the remainder of her life sentence in Pakistan.

Moreover, the conditions state that Pakistan should accept that her trial in the US was fair and justified.

The PTI statement said that these conditions were unacceptable and hoped that the government would not accept any conditions forcibly asked for by the US government. It pointed out that US is under strong congressional pressure to seek the release of Afridi, who is termed “a collaborator of illegal US activities in Pakistan”.

The PTI added that if the prisoners swap agreement is to work it should not be based on any conditions.

“If the US insists on them, then there should be a mutual agreement to label the swapped prisoners as ‘terrorists’ or ‘traitors’”.

Calling the US trial and conviction biased, the PTI release said that even though the people of Pakistan are eager for Aafia to return, they do not want to accept her as a terrorist simply at the behest of the US.