No amount of education or prestige can hide crazy, and even if Aafia was at the very least harmless, she was a whole lot of crazy nonetheless. I feel for her children, though.

Why is conviction unfair? What was she doing in Afghanistan and what has her doctorate got to with all this?

When you willingly marry into a terrorist family then you agree with their ideology and agree to the risks involved. Enjoy your time in America.

Her story has holes so big, an elephant can walk through it. And the crazies in JI have made her point of honor...they don't worry about the thousands killed by their fellow humanitarians in Taliban...they don't utter an anything against them. The sheer hypocrisy of these people amazes me...have they no shame at all.

She was represented by one of the best legal firms available -- cost Pakistan about a million dollars. Perhaps the real tragedy of this affair is that she was provided an expensive education funded by American taxpayers and threw that away .. her scholarships should have gone to a Pakistan more deserving who would have used that education to help Pakistan.

Shame on our gov't for letting them convict her on baseless information yet Pakistani Lotays escort a convicted US spy who murdered 2 Pakistanis. SHAME ON YOU!!!!

If there was smoke then there was fire. Married to a terrorist Palestenian and her presence in Afghanistan. It all adds up to something no good.

There are millions of women in Pakistan being treated 50 times worst than Afia. Any one crying about that. You all hypocrites.

There is a saying - if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Indeed, what business she had in Afghanistan, when the country was, in fact, a war zone. She studied in the United States, is a Pakistani citizen and ended up being in Afghanistan, where there was a war going on! An educated women, probably with reasonable intelligence, ends up in an area, where she should have been aware, risked her getting caught! I am sure the Americans would not have taken her as a prisoner, if she was innocent. Thousands of Pakistani women live, travel to the United States and don't face any problems. There definitely is more to it, then meets the eye!

There should be outrage everyday over acid throwing on women in Pakistan. Aren't these acid victims the daughters of Pakistan. When are you people gonna get your ducks in a row. Have a conscience for God's sake.

@Ganga Din: For your kind information she was caught from Pakistan and put in Jail at Afghanistan. she was doing nothing there, she was there as prisoner.

She was not in Pakistan when she was taken in custody by Pakistani authorities later selling for few dollars by Mushi. Its a written fact that Pakistani authorities allowed US to take her out of the country. And yes she shot the US soldiers and later US researchers were doing a research that whether or not a bullet can disappear after it has been fired. Because they were not able to recover the bullets which she allegedly has fired. Such a nonsense

Tough position to be in since she's an American citizen. Her story is shady - but then again 86 years is harsh for a women who has faced abuse and was tortured while in custody.

Being a Pakistani is difficult when your Government and Army has no spine.

@Haider Thanks for the clarification. Why did the government of Pakistan pay for her defense? She was a private citizen. Unless you are also missing something. She is going to serve time, there is no question about that but there is a lot more than the obvious. case.

@Man from UNCLE No, we are also crying for those fictitious millions of women who are being treated 50 times worse then Aafia! But IF Aafia is wrongfully convicted, does it make it right?

@Haider So you mean she has never been to Afghanistan. get a life

@Haider Are you telling me she never was in Afghanistan, even after she has confessed! A random woman, peacefully living in Pakistan was caught in Pakistan and moved to an Afghan jail, for no fault of hers. WOW! You just proved that people will go to any length to make up any story, just to prove their innocence - no matter how dumb it may sound!

@Sarmad That's correct. Musharraf was playing that game for a few bucks. Poor Musharraf, used, exploited and abandoned like so many others before him. When will Pakistanis learn a lesson and stand up on their own. We don't need western life style. We should make ourselves self sufficient. If any lesson has to be learned from our so called Chinese friends then this is it.

Im not aware of this case as much but the torture she went through while being in US custody is indeed sad.. It is these harsh form of secular laws practiced by secular nations that many ppl today have become skeptic of secularism...

@Ali S 80 years of imprisonment and all the physical toture just for being crazy?.. In that case capital punishment was applicable for Raymond Davis for killing two innocent pak civilians..

On the other hand, our shameless governments let killers of Pakistani citizens go free in the name of diplomatic immunity. What a contrast! Shame on our government and shame on us as a nation.

@Sarmad What exactly is the proof that she was captured in Pakistan and sold by the government of the day? Is there a shred of evidence that you can share with us to prove your claim? I am just amazed at the all knowing pronouncements made by people here. When asked for proof, its usually nothing but pin drop silence!

@Haider And sir what exactly is your proof?

@Sonny Afridi But, if she is released earlier, say 10 years, she will go back to terrorism again. I think it is a mental case.

Shame on us all for ignoring the following facts: She was not in Afghanistan but abducted from Karachi and sold for a few dollars by Mushi. "An unarmed woman was able to overpower armed, trained FBI agents and the shoot them", laughable to say the least. She was tortured while in custody and denied basic human rights. So much for the intellect and vanity of this nation.

The argument people are making here is that she was in Afghanistan thus she must be guilty so with that argument anyone with education must be guilty if found in war torn area learn the facts of the case

I think lawyers were incompetant plus the statements against the Judicial system by her did not leave a favurable impact on the jury. She could go for plea bargin and could be out of jail within 10 years.

I believe Aafia has a serious mental problem. It will be unsafe to release her, because she is dangerous.

@Man from UNCLE Instead of calling yourself Man from UNCLE - you might want to call yourself Man from MARS! You don't look like you are from this earth! While I am no fan of Aafia Siddiqui, your comparison seems totally outrageous. There are women being abused - with acid, with rape, with assault, etc. not only in Pakistan, but around the world. And I can say, even men are being abused. While there is no justification and we do demand an end to this, you cannot expect people to be protesting every day. In this case, they are demanding her release - you can argue that for certain reasons, we should not be demanding her release, but to compare her case to that of other women who have faced harsh treatments just does not make sense and really, you make other people speechless, wondering how in the world can you respond to something so senseless!

Guilty or not, 86 years is too harsh. She person she allegedly shot did not die. She has served so much time behind bars already. Time to let her go.

@independentthinker I can't have the battle of the wits with an unarmed person like you. You know it, I know it, the world knows it what sorry state our women are in.

@jamshed khan Unfortunately, Pakistan is not bankrolling Obama - that's the difference!

@independentthinker She was convicted fair and square in the court of law. She was caught with her hand stuck in the cookie jar. What a waist of American tax dollar to put her through MIT.

@Ezio Auditore Please get you head out from where the sun don't shine. That helps me out to think a lot more clear.

@Ganga Din Ganga always remember......... West is the Best. Unless you refrain from using western imports and their researched medicine next time you are sick. Just about everything you do after you open your eyes in the morning is courtesy of the West. Not that easy hmmmmmmmm.

@independentthinker You may have a thing or two going for Afia but the fact of the matter is that she is a convict. You can protest on your streets like crazy but you are not getting that convict back to you. Now to protest for the abuse of women, children, bonded labor ...etc will have some bearing on it since its an in-house ills of your society. I sincerely hope it get though your head this time around. Even though I respect your opinion however I do hope that you start to see this issue from a sane perspective.

People who are protesting for Afia's release are like flogging a dead horse. Your protest is totally unproductive. JI supporters, and one independent-thinker, start protesting about the bad shape our women are in. Don't make life miserable for a girl who gets raped....... please. Get these children and adults out of bonded labor. To curb acid throwing on women......protest to implement eye for an eye attitude. These are our local, in-house ills of society that your protest will have bearing on and daily protests will gain some traction.

@Ganga Din Dear She was handed over to Americans from his house in Karachi and was sent to Afghanistan Jail. Hope all of us will care about our citizens as US does for theirs.

@AHA . The length of her sentence is currently under appeal and is expected to be reduced. With that said she's likely to spend 20+ years behind USA bars and then sent back to Afghanistan who will likely put her on trial where she can spend more time in prison.

All those posting here and pretending to be judges don't even know half the story, including myself. Hence I will not jump to conclusion like you all and declare her guilty. The bottom line is that she is a citizen of Pakistan and we ought to support her, just like Raymond Davis was.

Really!! We are really discussing this? Reasonable, hopefully sane, and if we are reading DAWN, literate people, mostly from Pakistan? So we are going to discuss yet another conspiracy theory? I personally have a lot of respect for US judicial system. It would be far cry even for a conspiracy theory that the Americans some how plotted this whole thing? After torturing her , they brought her to a court on the US soil, held an open trial and sentenced Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years in prison, because they wanted to dishonor a muslim woman or this " Daughter of Pakistan"? I am in complete disagreement with the US policy towards the Muslim World but to think that the US government knowingly did all this to her is just unfathomable. We as Pakistani's have been ruined by a system that is now making us loose reason.

Stop clamoring over Afia's issue. You have more ills in your society than one can shake a stick at. Raise those in-house issues during your protest rather than playing Afia's broken record. Hope you all get my drift.

@independentthinker @ali s Im not sure where and how much controlled media has been fed to you two and a few others. Its amusing how your siding with the establishment that has proven time and again that it can't stand to stay out of trouble. Guantanamo bay, baghra has proved the amount of humanity the west has towards anyone, including so called 'TERRORISTS'. now your complaining about tax dollars. We are patriotic Pakistanis, not relocated immigrants. A patriotic Pakistani will always and forever stand by their own, go tea some people magazine and worry about brad pitts next baby, pakistan has enough bright minds to free their own and make it a prosperous nation. this might seem like a rant, and yes it is, i can't stand people criticizing about affairs they have no clue about.

What was she doing in Afghanistan?

Humanity requires that she recieve a fair trial. Why is US not doing it and why do they not provide evidence. Torture anyone without fair representation and trial and what do you expect. Its comic how a tortured lady can snatch a soldiers gun and shoot him.

@Man from UNCLE Beautiful comment..

I have been regular reader of DAWN from 1969 when every morning I used to wake up early to be the first among brothers & sisters to get Hold of Dawn. Dawn was professional, following highest journalistic standards. But Today Dawn has also become the victim of the Commercial Media expansion and thus seems to be facing dearth of Professionals. I have serious Objections on the EDITORS " PAKISTANI SCIENTIST", While every body knows that she rejected Pakistani nationality to opt for USA citizenship. I have nostalgic association with DAWN and feel sad about one of My ideal falling low like all the societal values.

plz neutrally compare Afia and Raymond Davis.if both are killers than why Raymond was set free and Afia is given 86 years prison sentence.america really care about (only) his citizens.

@Man from UNCLE Why are you so much concerned about TAX payers money spent on her Study? Did you not see waste of TAX payer's money on other things?

@hasan raja Other then offering unconditional support to a "Pakistani" - you have not stated one single thing to prove her innocence. If this is how you plan to secure her release, I wish you good luck! I never said the Americans were perfect and yet, I will say this - if Aafia was not guilty of this crime, they would not hold her back for so long, in spite of all the appeals by our government! Just because someone is a Pakistani, should not mean that the whole country would rally behind her, whether she is guilty or not!

@Man from UNCLE You appear to like responding to comments, without reading them in the first place! Please go back and read my comment again.... I never said I was supporting Aafia and that she may not be innocent, as we are made to believe. I don't need to respond to your comment, as it is not based on anything, except for it seems you just like to post your comments, whether they make sense or not!