ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has lodged a formal complaint with the US authorities to thoroughly investigate an assault on Dr Afia Siddiqui and ensure her safety and well-being.

“We learnt of an assault on Dr Afia Siddiqui by a fellow inmate at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Carswell on July 30,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The FMC Carswell is a United States federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas for female inmates of all security levels with special medical and mental health needs. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has a prison camp for minimum-security female inmates.

The FO spokesman said the Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC as well as Consulate General in Houston immediately took up the matter with the US authorities concerned. “Our Consul General in Houston visited Dr Siddiqui immediately to ascertain her well-being. She had received some minor injuries but was doing fine,” he said.

He added that both the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC and the Consulate General of Pakistan in Houston continued to make every effort to ensure that Dr Siddiqui was properly looked after during her incarceration at FMC Carswell. Dr Siddiqui — a US citizen of Pakistani origin — was convicted by a US court on charges of shooting at the US army and FBI officers while in custody in Afghanistan and was sentenced to 86 years imprisonment.

Her family and supporters claim she was arrested in Pakistan and handed over to intelligence agencies, which then transferred her into US custody. Both the US and Pakistani officials, however, claim that she was arrested in Afghanistan.

Dr Siddiqui, who received her graduation degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University in biology and neuroscience while living in the US between 1991 and June 2002, denied grabbing the weapon or having any familiarity with firearms.

She allegedly went missing five years before she was discovered in Afghanistan.

On Aug 19, CAGE — an independent advocacy organisation working to empower communities impacted by the ‘war on terror’ — said it had received disturbing reports from Dr Siddiqui’s lawyers stating that she had been attacked in her cell by an inmate who had been harassing her for some time.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2021