May 17, 2010

KARACHI : Protest rallies in more than 50 cities and towns of the country including Karachi on Sunday demanded immediate release and repatriation of Pakistani woman scientist, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, terming her detention in the US illegal, immoral and a big question mark on human rights.

The rallies were organized on the call of Pasban in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Rawalpinidi, Multan, Sarghoda, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Sukkur, Nawabshah, Kotri and other cities and towns.

In Karachi a protest rally was arranged in front of Karachi Press Club, where the protesters termed Dr Aafia a living symbol of human rights in whole world. They said illegal kidnapping of Dr Aafia along with her minor children, inhuman torture on her in US torture camps in Afghanistan and her present illegal detention in the US and disappearance of her son Salman are big question marks over the charters and manifestos of human rights organizations of the world.

They demanded of the Pakistani government to take solid and sincere efforts for an early release and repatriation of Dr Aafia, whom they termed the daughter of Pakistan.

PakWatan.com

May 15, 2010

LAHORE

Lord Nazir Ahmed of United Kingdom has said that there is no evidence available, which proves that Dr Aafia is involved in the shooting of American soldiers.

Delivering a lecture about his success story in business and politics in United Kingdom at the Punjab University (PU) Institute of Business Administration in New Campus here on Friday, he said Pakistanis should launch a united movement until Dr Aafia and all the Pakistanis kept as prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were honourably released as well as suitable compensation was paid and the Americans say sorry to Pakistan and the rest of the world.

PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, Director IBA Prof Dr Muhammad Ehsan Malik, faculty members and many students of the institute were also present.

Lord Nazir said although a US court had sentenced Dr Aafia, but morally and politically they have not been able to sentence her. He said the Western countries were suffering from Islamophobia and pointing fingers at Muslims and Pakistan by criticising Muslim. He said the Western leaders sometimes resorted to anti-Muslim feelings such as banning veil amongst Muslim women because this was one thing, which could unite their whole society. He said there was no doubt that a wave of new prejudice and hate had been unleashed against Islam in the Western societies, but it was direly required that we should set our own house in order so as to counter anti-Islam and Pakistan feelings.

Excerpt from: OpEd News

Sacred Sisters Of Victory
By Mark Sashine

This year May 9 is the 65th anniversary of the Victory over Germany in 1945. It is also a Mother's Day. The US is very proud with its record of women emancipation. This century is proclaimed to be the Century of Women. Empowerment is the word....

Germans did not consider Russians as  proper POWs; women- prisoners were not protected by any convention or agreement. German soldiers saved and distributed memorable photos with women hanged at the background, with naked women routed up, with Russian girls on their knees, with women- Communists or Jews digging their own graves; you want more of that? Hey, feminists, how are you going to treat a woman- Communist who was repeatedly raped by the Germans- as a saint or it was all her fault? Don't bother; Martha Corey said that there were no witches in 1692, she certainly was no Communist- but I had never heard her name mentioned by your people even once. Our US feminism prefers queens and duchesses. Rose Luxemburg, a prominent German Communist, beaten to death in 1918 by a group of German officers is not their heroine, of course. Just imagine a group of men beating a woman to death. What a feat, really for the glorious German military. But it was in 1918. In the Y2010 doctor Aafia Siddiqui was literally torn to pieces by the US so- called court system, convicted under false premise and do we hear anything from Oprah? Or from Tina Fey? Or from Madame Huffington? Oh yes, they are busy celebrating the anniversary of Madeleine Allbright becoming a Secretary of State.  How about Cindy Sheehan? When Glenn Beck called a woman who lost her son  in the criminal war a "tragedy pimp", did any of our female celebs spit in his eye? Did any of them use their considerable wealth to make him cringe as the coward he is? Nope, total silence it was. Empowerment really is strange in this country. It is highly selective....

Full article here

May 6th and 7th Rallies and Vigils in Support of Dr. Aafia

ISLAMABAD:

The residents of the federal capital participated in large numbers in a protest rally at Aabpara Chowk here on Thursday to press the US government for release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. The rally, organised by the Jamiat Ittehad Ulema, was led Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) (Pakistan) Naib Ameer Dr. Muhammad Kamal. It was participated by people belonging to different of walks of life.
The protesters carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans for the release of the Pakistani scientist who is detained in the US. They chanted slogans against former president Pervez Musharraf who they said handed over Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and many other Pakistanis to the US to receive dollars from the American government.

LONDON:

The ‘Justice for Aafia Coalition - JFAC’ has held vigil outside the US Embassy in Central London ahead of her sentencing in New York on charges of attempted murder of US personnel while imprisoned at Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan. The London vigil was arranged by the UK chapter of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.
Ms Zia said that Party Chairman Imran Khan has led a very active campaign for Dr Aafia and has demanded that the Pakistani authorities tell them the circumstances of Dr Aafia ending up in Afghanistan with her three children. She said the Government needs to expose those who have aided and abetted the kidnapping of Dr Aafia.
There were also supportive statements from Green Party leader and member European Parliament Caroline Lucas and from leading solicitor and human rights activist Gareth Peirce.

NEW YORK:

Members of a divese group of communities, on May 6th staged a demonstration in front the U.S. District Court building demanding reform of the American judicial system. The rally was organized by The Peace Thru Justice Foundation and several other endorsing organizations.
A large crowd of people raised slogans against the "bias" against minorities that they said runs through the judicial set-up.
May 6th. was the day that the court was scheduled to hold a sentencing hearing for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, but the sentenceing date has now been postponed till August 16.

Dr. Aafia Sentencing Hearing Changed Again from July 21, 2010 to August 16, 2010

Judge Berman has reset the time for Dr Aafia's sentencing from July 21st to August 16th.

Time is currently subject to verification.

The Hearing will be held in Judge Berman's court at 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan, New York.

PRESS CONFERENCE at the NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, Washington, DC. - April 29, 2010

The press conference was organized by The Peace Thru Justice Foundation in support of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, and other wrongfully imprisoned Muslims in America, and to draw attention to a very important "Preemptive Prosecution Resolution" recently passed by the Common Council of Albany, New York.