WORLD/PAKISTAN: UN must demand transparency from three states regarding the ambiguous arrest and detention of Dr Aafia Siddiqui and her three young children

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-239-2008
September 16, 2008

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

WORLD/PAKISTAN: UN must demand transparency from three states
regarding the ambiguous arrest and detention of Dr Aafia Siddiqui and
her three young children

While welcoming the release of 11-year-old Pakistani-American,
Muhammad Ahmad, from the murky realm of US custody in Afghanistan,
the Asian Human Rights Commission is still waiting for information on
where and why the child was detained and for how long, plus
information on his current condition and official status.

No information about the child’s missing younger siblings,
Marium, age nine and Suleman, five, has been released and the AHRC is
extremely concerned for their welfare. The circumstances of the
mother’s arrest, charge and detention by the FBI also leaves
many questions unanswered. Transparency in this case, which involves
three minors and three state governments, has been disturbingly
absent.

Three months passed between the date the US claims it detained the
boy, and his safe arrival at his aunt’s home in Pakistan on 15
September 2008. Reasons for this have not been given. Dr Fauzia
Siddiqui, Ahmad’s maternal aunt – supported by her mother
in Pakistan and her brother, an architect in Texas – had
struggled and failed to visit her nephew, or gain custody of him
after the announcement. At one point, US authorities branded her
‘disinterested’ and threatened to take him into custody
in the US. Protests in the media and from human rights groups, and a
personal appeal by letter from Dr Fauzia to Afghan President Hamid
Karzai, secured the boy’s eventual release to his family. The
doctor reports that he is emotionally distraught. The US appears to
have done little for the freedom or welfare of the child, or his
missing siblings, despite them being American citizens.

Since the legal status of the boy has yet to be announced, Dr Fauzia
and the AHRC are concerned that he will again be taken into illegal
custody. Ahmad is a minor – he is too young to have charges
made against him.

He and his siblings have been missing along with their mother Dr
Aafia Siddiqui, since 2003, when they disappeared shortly after the
FBI named her as an Al Qaeda suspect. Media reports have suggested
that that family was arrested by Pakistan authorities and handed over
to the Americans, and that they have been illegally detained in
Afghanistan until July this year. The AHRC is concerned that the
children may have been used in the interrogation of their parents
(the father being held in Guantanamo Bay), and that they may be at
risk because of what they have now seen and experienced in Afghan
prisons.

The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns the absolute lack of
transparency or accountability shown in this case. The ethical vacuum
being created by the “war on terror” appears to have
spread to the abduction and illegal detention of children. The AHRC
is concerned that the conflict has lost its moral compass absolutely,
on all sides.

The AHRC calls on the UN to intervene and investigate the case, which
defies numerous international and domestic laws, and basic human
rights. Questions must be raised and answered, accountability
accepted, charges and reparations made.

Furthermore, the AHRC would like to express increasing concern for
the well being of the two younger Siddiqui children, and demands that
they be immediately handed over to family members. Finally, the safety
of Muhammad Ahmad needs to be established, and he must be given access
to professionals who can help him recover from what must have been a
harrowing ordeal.

For more on this case please see AHRC Statement 238-2008
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2008statements/1689/

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional
non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights
issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

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