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UPDATE (Pakistan/USA): Dr. Afia's health is in serious condition and two of her children remain missing

August 8, 2008

[NOTICE: The AHRC has developed this automatic letter-sending system using the "button" below. Please click the button for your participation. We also encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Pakistan authorities are attached below with this appeal. Thank you.]

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Update: AHRC-UAU-049-2008

8 August 2008

[RE: AHRC-UAC-167-2008: PAKISTAN/USA: A lady doctor remains missing with her three children five years after her arrest]
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PAKISTAN/USA: Dr. Afia's health is in serious condition and two of her children remain missing

ISSUES: Disappearance; rape; violence against women; torture; right to liberty and security; arbitrary arrest and detention; right to health
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that due to a bullet wound and removal of one kidney, Dr. Afia Siddiqui health is in a serious condition, but no medical assistance has been provided to her whilst she has been in American custody in New York.

UPDATED INFORMATION:

After the case of Dr. Afia was issued (AHRC-UAC-167-2008) and became part of public discourse, the government of the United States claimed that she was arrested on 17 July 2008, which does nothing to explain her whereabouts since March 2003.

It is reported that she was brought to Pakistan in February 2008 to convince her to become a government witness against Khalid Shiek Mohammad - a high profile Al-Quaida leader and allegedly one of the masterminds of the September 11 attacks, who has been detained in Guantanamo Bay prison. As the case against Khalid Shiekh Mohammad is about to start the American forces need the assistance of Dr. Afia Siddiqui to convict him. Dr. Afia was allegedly severely tortured in Karachi, Pakistan in order to secure her compliance.

She was produced before a New York court where she had to be assisted into the hearing. It is reported that her health is in a serious condition due to the bullet wound she suffered after reportedly trying to attack one of her guards, but no medical assistance has been provided to her while she has been in American custody in New York.

According to the information received from a local human rights organisation in Pakistan, her kidney was removed while she was in custody in the United States. A closer look at the picture shows evidence of the years of physical abuse; there are dark circles under her eyes, and her nose was apparently broken at some stage and has been badly set. It is a picture of a severely dehydrated person in desperate need of medical attention.

In addition, although one son is with Dr. Afia but the whereabouts of her two other children still remain unknown. All three of her children were kidnapped along with Dr. Afia when she was taken by Pakistani intelligence officers on March 30, 2003. Her two children who remain missing were not with her when she was shifted to a governor's house in Afghanistan, for a brief stop over prior to her journey to New York, under heavy security. When she was being taken aboard a special plane there was no female security officer to provide support or assistance to her, and it was reported she fell down at least two times.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the following mentioned authorities and urge them to immediately release Dr. Afia Siddiqui and her child who is with her. Please also demand both governments to reveal the whereabouts of the other two children.

Please be informed that the AHRC has written separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture calling for intervention in this case.
 
To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

PAKISTAN/USA: Dr. Afia's health is in a serious condition and two of her children remain missing

Name of victim:
Dr. Afia Siddiqui and her three children, Block 7, Gulshan e Iqbal, Karachi, Sindh-Pakistan; currently detained at American custody in New York, USA
Name of alleged perpetrators:
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FIB), USA, United States Army Warrant Officer, United States Army Captain, and United States military interpreters stationed at Ghizni province, Afghanistan

I am shocked to know that Dr. Afia Siddiqui, a Pakistani female scientist, who has been missing along with her three children for five years after her arrest by Pakistani intelligence agencies, has not been provided any medical treatment since 'turning up' in an Afghanistan detention centre in American custody. This is despite the formal announcement of her arrest by the FBI.

Furthermore, I am appalled that the whereabouts of two of her children remains unknown. Dr. Afia and her three children were kidnapped by Pakistani intelligence agents in March 2003.

I have been informed that Dr. Afia's heath is a serious concern and that she is extremely weak after having been shot by an American army officer while allegedly trying to escape. How anyone who can barely walk could attempt to overpower an armed American soldier has yet to be explained. It is also reported that one of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's kidneys was removed while she was in the custody of the United States Authorities. A close look at the picture shows the years of physical abuse: there are dark circles under her eyes, and her nose was apparently broken at some stage and has been badly set. It is a picture of a severely dehydrated person in desperate need of medical attention.

The whereabouts of two of her children remain unknown and only one son is with her. All three of her children were kidnapped along with Dr. Afia when she was taken by Pakistani intelligence officers on March 30, 2003. The two children who remain missing were not with her when she was shifted to a governor's house in Afghanistan, for a brief stop over prior to her journey to New York, under heavy security. When she was being taken aboard a special plane there was no female security officer to provide support or assistance to her, and it was reported she fell down at least two times.

I have been also informed that Dr. Afia was tortured and kept in custody for more than five years only to obtain a confessional statement against Khalid Umer Shaikh, allegedly a high profile Al-Qaida master mind of the September 11 incident. She was even brought back to Pakistan to become a government witness against Khalid Umer.

My concern is that during this whole process Dr. Afia may lose her life because of a lack of proper care as envisaged in the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights. She also has the right to know what has happened to her missing children.

Accordingly, I appeal to you to provide all medical assistance to her and take proper action to discover the whereabouts of her two missing children, so that the family can be reunited. Dr. Afia must be provided immediate access to legal assistance of her choice and free access to the media.

Yours truly,

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PLEASE SEND YOU LETTERS TO:

1. Chief
Allied Joint Force Command
Head Quarters Brunssum,
Public Affirs office, P.O. BOX 270
6440, AG, Brunssem
THE NETHERLANDS
Tel. No.: +31 45 526 2409
E-mail: pio@jfcbs.nato.intHeadquart

2. Mr. George W. Bush
President of the United State of America (USA)
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20500
USA
E-mail: presidents@presidentsusa.net

3. Mr. Hamid Karzai
President of Afghanistan
Gul Khana Palace
Presidential Palace
Kabul
AFGHANISTAN
E-mail: president@afghanistangov.org

4. General Pervez Musharraf
President of Pakistan
President's Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1422 / 4768; 920 1893 or 1835
E-mail: (please see: http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx)

5. Mr. Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani
Prime Minister
Prime Minister House, Islamabad,
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1596
Tel: +92 51 920 6111
E-mail: webmaster@infopak.gov.pk or infominister@pak.gov.pk 

6. Mr. Farooq Naik
Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights
S Block Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 920 2628
E-mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk 

7. Mr. Rehman Malik
Advisor for Ministry of Interior
Room No. 404, 4th Floor, R Block,
Pak Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 920 2624
Tel: +92 51 921 2026
E-mail: minister@interior.gov.pk

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
AHRC-UAU-049-2008
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.