Excluding faith: US deny imprisoned Dr Aafia Siddiqui visits from an imam

We person precocious – imam and lawyer – joined forces, on with truthful galore unsung heroes, to request respect for the humanity of Dr Aafia Siddiqui. She is often called the “Most Oppressed Muslim Woman successful the World” – and with bully cause. There is nary different pistillate who went done the afloat US Rendition to Torture program. There is nary different illustration of a lawsuit wherever a pistillate was abducted by the CIA and their Pakistani co-conspirators on with her 3 tiny children.

And is determination a genitor successful the satellite who does not tremble astatine the destiny that befell those kids? Suleman, aged 6 months, was seemingly killed erstwhile helium was dropped connected his caput during the abduction. The CIA has ne'er fto Aafia know, but this happened connected March 30, 2003, successful Karachi, truthful it seems improbable that the kid is inactive alive. Yet which destiny would beryllium worse for the parent – to cognize the babe who was truthful precocious a portion of your assemblage is dead? Or to clasp retired a faint anticipation 2 decades aboriginal that helium lives?

It mightiness look evident that Suleman did dice erstwhile you perceive what our authorities – the US – did to the different two. Mariam, aged 3, was taken each the mode to Afghanistan, a warfare zone, wherever her sanction was changed to Fatima and she was involuntarily enactment successful a household of achromatic Christian Americans for 7 years. She would inactive beryllium determination but for erstwhile President Hamid Karzai, who aboriginal helped get her home.

Then determination is Ahmed, who was taken to Kabul and enactment successful prison, astatine the property of six! He was told his sanction henceforth was to beryllium Ihsan Ali and that helium would beryllium killed if helium said it was thing else. Ahmed and Mariam are some US citizens, and it is mind-boggling that the CIA, sworn to uphold the US Constitution, would bash this to 2 children from anywhere, fto unsocial kids carrying US passports.

Aafia was herself taken to Bagram Airbase successful Afghanistan wherever she endured 5 years of torture. Eventually, done an agonizing path, she ended up successful FMC Carswell, a national women’s situation successful Fort Worth, Texas, serving what is fundamentally a beingness sentence.

This nonfiction is not the forum successful which to contention her guilt – immoderate our well-founded doubts – truthful fto america unreal she truly did effort to termination an American soldier, adjacent though she was the lone idiosyncratic to beryllium shot. Regardless, it is simply a communal thread successful astir faiths that we should retrieve those successful distress, and that’s portion of what brings the 2 of america unneurotic successful this conflict for Aafia. In the Quran we are told, “And they springiness nutrient from their sustenance, successful spite of their emotion for it, to the needy, the orphan, and the captive…” (Insaan “The Human” 76:8). The Prophet Muhammad (peace beryllium upon him) famously taught that “no 1 of you believes until helium loves for his member what helium loves for himself” (Bukhari). In the Bible, a verse reads that we should “continue to retrieve those successful situation arsenic if you were unneurotic with them successful prison, and those who are mistreated arsenic if you yourselves were suffering”. (Hebrews 13:3)

Empathy is simply a pronounced worth successful our traditions, and if ever determination was idiosyncratic who needs spiritual solace close now, it is Aafia Siddiqui. So erstwhile she told her unpaid lawyer (Clive Stafford Smith) that she had not had an imam during her 16 years successful prison, fto unsocial the 5 years of torture earlier that, Clive reached retired to Imam Omar, who instantly agreed to sojourn her each mates of weeks to springiness her spiritual assistance.

This was months ago, and each clip we chased up the situation authorities, they came up with a caller crushed to bash nothing. First, they wanted their signifier filled out. We did that. Then they said they needed a driver’s licence and impervious of being an imam. Then they said they did not person the documents they needed, and we asked what other they needed. Months went by and they requested unusual documentation that demonstrated they had nary volition to facilitate Aafia’s request.

Last period Clive’s squad demanded to cognize erstwhile this was going to get resolved. We were told nothing. Then this week we were told that they had denied Omar’s close to assistance Aafia: “This memorandum is to counsel of the denial of visiting for Imam Suleiman.” The memorandum is dated September 26 – meaning it was written 2 months ago, but they had not bothered to archer america until now.

No crushed is given. The Biden medication has laboured agelong and hard to alienate Muslim Americans successful its blinkered enactment for Israel’s warfare crimes successful Gaza, but it is hard to recognize wherefore this petition would beryllium denied. Is it due to the fact that of different quality rights advocacy? Could it beryllium precipitated by erstwhile tweets and protests demanding that determination should beryllium justness for Aafia? Or could it beryllium that demanding an extremity to the atrocities against the Palestinian radical has erstwhile again alienated america from yet different basal abstraction successful which to function?

Today Clive and his colleagues person filed a suit successful national tribunal to unit the issue, yet it should not instrumentality a suit for the Carswell authorities to respect cardinal spiritual rights – they could conscionable work the Bible, the Quran oregon possibly adjacent conscionable the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the authors’ ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.