Dr. Aafia family vows movement for her release

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

KARACHI: The family of Pakistani scientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui on Thursday vowed to launch a "movement" to get her released from jail in America.

A US federal court Thursday sentenced Siddiqui to 86 years in prison for the attempted murder of US officers in Afghanistan.

Her lawyers immediately pledged they would appeal the sentence.

In Karachi, Fowzia Siddiqui told reporters all of Pakistan would agitate to get her sister freed.

"I was alone eight years ago when I started the campaign to release my sister, but from now on it will be the Aafia movement as the whole nation is with me," she said.

Around 200 activists from Jamaat-e-Islami and various right-wing groups gathered outside Siddiqui's Karachi home.

They chanted slogans including "Down with America" and "Allah-o-Akbar" (Allah is great) soon after news of the sentence filtered through.

Aafia Siddiqui, a mother of three, was found guilty earlier this year of grabbing a rifle at an Afghan police station in the town of Ghazni where she was being interrogated in July 2008 and trying to gun down a group of US servicemen.

Prosecutors said she had picked up the weapon and opened fire on US servicemen and FBI representatives trying to take her into detention. She missed and in a struggle was herself shot by one of the US soldiers.

Defence lawyers argued there was no physical evidence, such as fingerprints or gunpowder traces, to show Siddiqui even grabbed the rifle.

Fowzia Siddiqui, a medical practitioner, criticised President Asif Zardari's government for its inability to get her sister released.

"This is a slap on our rulers and all the rulers of the Muslim Ummah (nations)."

"The conviction clearly shows how enslaved our government is. The previous government (President Pervez Musharraf's) had sold Aafia once, but the present government has sold her time and again," she said.

"You (the government) have shown that you are not the representatives of our people, you are traitors who have got the whole nation enslaved," she cried.

"Aafia will certainly return sooner or later, but no one knows if our rulers will be there or not."

Later, around 30 angry protesters burned a US flag shouting anti-US and anti-Zardari slogans, a photographer said.

Prior to the court hearing, Fowzia Siddiqui had led a 200-strong rally through Karachi, witnesses said.

"The rally had tried to march towards the US consulate, but the police stopped them well before the sensitive area," Mohammad Asif, a local police official told media.

In the eastern city of Lahore, around 200 activists from Islami Jamiat Talaba, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, gathered after the sentencing. They burnt tyres and shouted anti-US slogans, witnesses said.

Authorities in Karachi said they were on alert for possible disturbances following the sentencing.

"We have declared a high alert and deployed maximum police force in the city to stop possible violence and ensure that no private property is damaged during future protests," the city's police chief Fayyaz Leghari told media.