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Bring my sister back immediately:Dr Fauzia

Staff Report

KARACHI: Dr Fauzia Siddiqui, the sister of the imprisoned Dr Aafia Siddiqui, has alleged that despite court orders being issued, the United States government has not made arrangements for Dr Aafia’s treatment and Dr Fauzia expressed grave concern over her sister’s deteriorating health.

Dr Fauzia was addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Monday. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Secretary General Iqbal Haider was also present and he too demanded the immediate return of Dr Aafia. Dr Fauzia thanked the Pakistani government for its support but urged the government to ensure her immediate return so that she can receive medical treatment.

She said that the court had ordered Dr Aafia be sent to the Carswell Psychiatric Centre, a facility known as the ‘house of horror’, as it has a well-documented history of physical, psychological and sexual abuse, even by doctors, priests and prison guards. She termed Judge Berman’s ruling on October 1 as shocking, as he ordered her transfer to the centre and also allowed use of force against her.

“Her transfer to this notorious horror centre means even worse abuse and solitary incarceration for an unlimited period, without further trial,” she said, adding that since the US government has no grounds to keep her in further detention, they are using the pretext of psychiatric evaluation to detain her.

Dr Fauzia said that the best treatment for Dr Aafia, after over five years of physical, mental and emotional torture, is to send her home so she can be reunited with her family and receive the love, affection and sense of security that she has been deprived of for so long.

She said that diagnosing her sister with ‘chronic depressive psychosis’ is just another trick to make Dr Aafia believe things that her captors have concocted for their own benefit. “We believe that a competency examination of Dr Aafia, under 18 U.S.C-4241, should not be undertaken until she is treated for her obviously incapacitating mental illness and her gunshot wounds heal,” said Dr Fauzia, adding that the US government promised that their brother will be allowed to meet Dr Aafia but they have yet to fulfill this commitment.

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