Pakistani Premier urges Biden to release Afia Siddiqui from US jail

October 18, 2024

- Siddiqui is serving 86-year prison sentence in Texas for attempting to murder an American soldier in Afghanistan

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) – Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged US President Joe Biden to release jailed Pakistani national Aafia Siddiqui.

Sharif expressed concern in a letter sent to Biden on Oct. 13 regarding Siddiqui's fragile mental and physical health in prison, the local daily Dawn reported on Friday.

Siddiqui is serving an 86-year prison sentence in Texas for attempting to murder an American soldier in Afghanistan.

“Numerous Pakistani officials have paid consular visits to Dr Siddiqui … all of them have raised their serious concerns about the treatment she has received,” Sharif stated, adding that they have expressed serious concerns about her treatment and fear she may commit suicide.

“You would, therefore, fully understand that as prime minister, it is my solemn duty to intervene when it becomes absolutely necessary to ensure a citizen’s wellbeing, particularly when the circumstances are as dire as they are in this case,” he added and asked Biden to forgive and release her.

Siddiqui, who earned her PhD from Brandeis University, went missing in Pakistan in 2004 with her three minor children before being found in a US military base in Bagram, Afghanistan in 2008.

She was accused of attacking a US soldier during interrogation, which she and her family deny.

In 2010, she was sentenced to prison by a US court.

Last year, US authorities allowed her to meet her sister Fauzia Siddiqui at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, after almost 20 years.