Aafia Siddiqui | Pakistan

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has constituted a four-member larger bench to hear a petition filed by Dr Fowzia Siddiqui seeking the release and repatriation of her sister, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, from a US prison.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has stated that the government is extending all possible diplomatic and legal assistance to secure the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday that his comments in the United States about the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui were being “taken out of context” in the wake of criticism of the remarks by her lawyer. FM Dar is currently on a visit to the US. Dar spoke at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, a day ago, during which he had drawn a parallel with the case of Dr Aafia, who has spent years in a US prison, when responding to a question about former prime minister Imran Khan’s incarceration. He noted that Pakistan did not interfere in that process because “the Americans had followed their judicial system”. Similarly, he said, Imran was sentenced by Pakistan’s judiciary, which followed the due process of law. “When the due process is followed, others do not have the right to interfere,” he said. Dr Aafia, a neuroscientist and educator, was convicted by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on charges of attempted murder of US personnel in Afghanistan and has been s...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif assured Dr Fouzia Siddiqui on Friday that the government would continue to provide all possible legal and diplomatic support in the matter of her sister, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist serving a prison sentence in the United States, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported. On Wednesday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Registrar Office put on hold the processing of the contempt of court notices issued to PM Shehbaz and his cabinet members as the dealing staff decided to ascertain its validity first. IHC Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq on July 21 had issued a contempt of court notice to the entire federal government, including the prime minister and all ministers, for refusing to file an amicus brief to support Dr Aafia’s case in the US. “The government is in no way negligent regarding the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui,” the prime minister was quoted as having said by APP in a meeting today with Dr Fouzia. On the instructions of PM Shehbaz, the government has previously provi...

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday assured Dr Fauzia Siddiqui, the sister of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, that the government remains fully committed to pursuing her case through all diplomatic and legal avenues.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday issued contempt notices to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other members of the federal cabinet for failing to submit a response in the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui. Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a neuroscientist and educator, was convicted by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on charges of attempted murder of US personnel in Afghanistan and has been serving her sentence at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Carswell in the US since 2010. On July 12, the IHC expr­essed dissatisfaction over the federal government’s failure to submit a report in the case concerning Aafia’s release, health and repatriation, with Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq threatening to “summon the entire cabinet” if the report is not presented. Justice Ishaq presided over a hearing for the case today. The judge said in his court order that he had warned the additional attorney general while passing his previous ruling that further inaction on the part of the government would lead to...

ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will Monday (today) resume hearing in a petition filed by Dr Fowzia Siddiqui, seeking the repatriation, health status, and release of her sister, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, who is imprisoned in the United States of America.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has expr­essed dissatisfaction over the federal government’s failure to submit a report in the case concerning the release, health and repatriation of Dr Aafia Siddiqui. Dr Siddiqui, a neuroscientist, has been imprisoned in the United States since 2008 after being convicted on charges of attempted murder of US personnel in Afghanistan. When the petition filed by her sister Dr Fawzia Siddiqui came up for hearing, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan grilled Additional Attorney General Rashid Hafeez over the delay in submission of the government’s response to the case. The court noted that the government had been asked in June to submit a response but it did not file it till date. “If the federal government’s report is not presented in my court, I will summon the entire cabinet. Why not initiate contempt of court proceedings against all ministers in the federal cabinet, including the prime minister?” he remarked. However, the additional attorney general requested for five mor...

Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday expressed strong displeasure over the federal government’s continued failure to submit a report regarding the release, health, and repatriation of Dr Aafia Siddiqui.