Aafia Siddiqui moved to the United States in 1990, in pursuit of the American dream. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in biology from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), followed by a PHD in Cognitive Neuroscience from Brandeis University.  She married a practicing anesthesiologist and had two children in Boston (and a third in Pakistan).  She was engaged in volunteer charity work on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged, and was a beloved member of her community. 

In March 2003, Dr. Aafia and her three children were abducted on their way to the airport in Karachi, Pakistan, where they were headed to board a flight to visit relatives in Islamabad.   Neither Dr. Siddiqui nor her children were heard from again for more than five years, during which time her family feared the worst.  In 2007, human rights organizations identified Dr. Siddiqui as a ‘Ghost Prisoner’ who was believed to have been held in a CIA secret prison, where torture and degrading treatment were commonplace.  It was not until the summer of 2008, five years after her disappearance, that US authorities announced that Dr. Aafia and her eldest son, Ahmed, had been taken into US custody in Afghanistan.  The whereabouts of Dr. Aafia’s two youngest children, Mariam (a natural born US-citizen who was only four at the time of her abduction), and Suleman (a six-month old infant at the time) are still unknown.

Though Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is not accused of having any links to terrorism, US authorities transported her from Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan – where she was being treated after having been shot by US personnel while in custody – to federal custody in New York City.   Though Dr. Aafia was the only person injured in the incident that left her shot and wounded, she has been charged with allegedly attempting to assault US personnel while in custody in Afghanistan, a charge that she vehemently denies.

Dr. Siddiqui’s US-based family has expressed deep concerns about her mental and physical health based on what they have observed during the US-court proceedings.  They have asked attorneys with the International Justice Network to monitor the trial – which began on January 19, 2010 in federal court in Manhattan – and to speak on their behalf.