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Wednesday, February 19, 2025  
20 Shaban 1446  

Dr Aafia seeks presidential pardon as her lawyer submits dossier to Biden: report

‘I am... a victim of injustice, pure and simple. Every day is torture... it is not easy.’

Jailed Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist serving an 86-year sentence in the United States, has sought a presidential pardon from the outgoing US President Joe Biden.

“I hope I am not forgotten, and I hope that one day soon I will be released,” she told Sky News, through her lawyer.

US court documents said that Dr Aafia was allegedly found with two kilogrammes of sodium cyanide concealed in moisturizer bottles when she was detained by US forces in Afghanistan in 2008.

In her interrogation, witnesses claim she seized a rifle and opened fire on US agents, shouting “Death to America” and expressing a desire to kill Americans. None of the soldiers were harmed, although Dr Aafia sustained injuries during the incident.

At 52 years old, she gained notoriety as one of the world’s most wanted women due to her alleged connections to al-Qaeda’s leadership.

In 2010, a federal court in Manhattan sentenced her to 86 years in prison after convicting her of firing at US troops while in custody, along with six other related charges.

“I am… a victim of injustice, pure and simple. Every day is torture… it is not easy,” she said, “one day, Inshallah [God-willing], I will be released from this torment.”

Her attorney, Clive Stafford Smith, has urged outgoing President Joe Biden to grant her a pardon, having submitted a comprehensive 76,500-word dossier detailing her case.

With President Biden facing a deadline before Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, he has issued 39 pardons and commuted 3,989 sentences during his tenure.

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Smith argued that a series of “intelligence failures” led to his client being “wrongly identified” as a suspect, pointing to witness testimonies that were not available during her trial. He claims that in 2003, while Dr Aafia was in Pakistan, she and her three children were abducted by the country’s intelligence agency and subsequently handed over to the CIA, who transported her to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

Last year, a clemency petition seeking her release was submitted to the White House. Before that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif requested that US President Joe Biden pardon and release her

In a letter dated October 13, 2024, the PM expressed his concerns about Dr Siddiqui’s “fragile mental and frail physical health” while in prison. “Now 52 years old, she has served 16 years behind bars in the US.

PM Shehbaz urged Biden to release on humanitarian grounds.

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aafia siddiqui

Dr Aafia Siddiqui