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El-Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan
(American Human Rights Activist)
Referring to the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, Saalakhan termed it as one of
the worst miscarriages of justice in the history of US. Of special note about
the trial, he said, it was the fact that not one terrorism charge was included
in the criminal indictment against her. The federal Judge Richard Berman,
who presided over her trial in New York, granted the prosecution practically
everything it wanted—most significantly, a ban on any testimony that would
shed light on the missing five years of her secret imprisonment, he added.
As a witness to the Aafia Siddiqi trial, Saalakhan was of the view that her short
trial, which began in February 2010, featured blatant inconsistencies in the
testimonies of the government’s star witnesses, and material evidence that
clearly favored the defendant. Despite this, however, Aafia was found guilty
on all seven counts of the indictment and
was unjustly sentenced to 86 years of
imprisonment, he deplored.
The government’s argument at sentencing
revolved around Aafia’s alleged hatred
toward and desire to kill Americans, a
charge similar in all such “terrorism”
related cases through which hundreds of
innocent individuals have been targeted during more than last one decade, he
noted.
MIKE GRAVEL
(Senator & former Candidate of Presidential Election of USA)
Pakistani government should make a written demand to the Obama
administration for the release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqi instead of making vain
statements in this regard.
(To be Continued on Page: 43)