‘No Pakistani safe across the globe following Aafia’s 86-year prison sentence’: IJN

LAHORE - Criticising the justice system in the United States as biased towards Muslims, the executive director of the International Justice Network, Tina Monshipour Foster, has said that following the 86-year prison sentence of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui by a US federal court, no Pakistani is now safe across the globe.

Talking to the media persons at the Lahore Press Club, Foster said that after the Pakistani scientist was sentenced to imprisonment in the US, now any Pakistani anywhere in the world could be extradited to the US in future.

“No Pakistani is safe now,” Geo News quoted her, as saying.

Foster, however, termed her meetings with Pakistani officials ‘conducive’ and ‘productive’, hoping that mounting pressure from the Pakistan government might lead to an early release of Aafia from US captivity.

“Her release could be made easier and possible if Pakistani government pressurize US,” she argued.

Foster, who is not directly representing Aafia in the case but works as her family lawyer, criticised the American justice system as biased towards Muslims, and said that those responsible for the abduction, disappearance and abuse of Aafia and her children without any solid evidence had yet to answer for their actions.

She said that Aafia’s imprisonment was a political case and directly related to the US foreign policies, like war on terrorism and extradition matters with different countries, and so there was very little chance of getting justice for her, the Daily Times reported.

About Aafia’s current status, Foster said that she was being held in solitary confinement in a small cell where no attorney or family member had been able to see her for many months. She was in a medical unit because she was suffering both mentally and physically, Foster added.

Foster is the founder of the IJN and serves as the lead counsel in several cases on behalf of detainees picked up by the US Army and law enforcement agencies, mostly on charges of terrorism from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen.

In September, a US federal court had sentenced Aafia to 86 years in prison for trying to kill American agents and military officers after Afghan police detained her in 2008. (ANI)