Aafia Siddiqui found guilty, thousands protest in Pakistan

In several cities of Pakistan, thousands demonstrated on Thursday to protest the New York court verdict against Aafia Siddiqui. Aqseer Abbasi, a lawyer at the Lahore High Court, was among the protesters:

"All over the world the accused gets the benefit of doubt. But Aafia didn't get it, instead the prosecution got it and she was found guilty. This is against the principles of justice."

Aafia Siddiqui had been accused of picking up an unattended gun and firing at US soldiers and agents who had come to question her after she was arrested in Ghazni, Afghanistan, in 2008.

No fair trial, lawyer says

Her lawyers claimed she was not fit to stand trial. One of them, Elaine Sharp, said, "after 18 months of solitary confinement, she was no longer communicating with her lawyers. I was the one who actually put her on the stand in the end, but I had less than two hours to prepare her!"

Aafia Siddiqui studied in the United States and lived there until 2002. Those who knew her during that time have described her as gentle and full of missionary fervor for Islam. In 2003, she disappeared with her three children from Karachi. Her family accused the security agencies of kidnapping her, and there were claims that she was being held secretly at the US-run Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan. It was not until the Ghazni incident in 2008 that her name resurfaced in the news media.

The trial was only about this incident. Aafia Siddiqui was not charged with terrorism, although US officials had previously on different occasions accused her of financing al Qaeda and planning attacks on US soil. But defense lawyer Elaine Sharp complained that double standards had been applied:

"On the one hand, the government of the United States was able to introduce evidence that shows that she was a terrorist, although we of course contest the circumstances under which those documents were created. We say she was forced to write them. But on the other hand, had we raised the issue of torture, we would have been shut down because that isn't, the judge would have ruled, relevant to the charges!"

Case remains mysterious

The case remains full of mysteries. Aafia Siddiqui's 13-year-old son, who was with her at the time of her arrest, has returned to his mother's family in Karachi; they say he is too traumatized to talk about what happened. Her other two children are still unaccounted for.

Aafia's former husband has said he believes they are somewhere in Karachi. He has also told journalists that he divorced Aafia because he did not agree with her plans to join the "Jihad" in Afghanistan.

Many theories have been put forward about her case. Some also say Aafia might have been targeted by authorities because of her links to al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, whose nephew she is said to have married. She disappeared shortly after Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested in 2003.

Family slams Pakistani government

Although the Pakistani government has paid for her defence, the family is not satisfied. Aafia's mother Ismat Siddiqui said: "Had the present government sincerely wanted Aafia back, then Aafia would be with you today."

President Zardari was quick to promise further assistance on Thursday, expressing the hope that Aafia would get justice during a later stage of the trial.

The New York jury found her guilty of attempted murder, but not premeditated murder, and several other charges. Upon hearing the verdict, she blamed it on Israel.

Aafia Siddiqui is to be sentenced in May. She faces a maximum term of life in prison.

Author: Thomas Bärthlein
Editor: Grahame Lucas