US authorities admitted that the teenage son of a Pakistani scientist held in the US on charges of trying to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan is in custody, the scientist’s family said yesterday.
“We received a letter from the office of US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Michael J. Gracia late Friday in which he acknowledged of having in custody Aafia Siddiqui’s eldest son, Ahmed, who will turn 12 years old in November,” her sister Fauzia said.
Siddiqui disappeared in 2003 along with her three children in the southern port city of Karachi after her name appeared on a US list of people allegedly linked to al-Qaeda.
Her family alleged she was arrested by Pakistan intelligence agencies and handed over to US troops.
RESURFACED
She resurfaced earlier this month, when the US authorities indicted her on charges of attempted murder in New York, where she was sent following her arrest on July 17 outside a government compound in Ghazni Province.
Siddiqui’s case has stirred public anger in Pakistan.
Both of Pakistan’s legislative houses have adopted unanimous resolutions demanding the immediate repatriation of Siddiqui, who holds a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
A group of Pakistani parliamentarians will travel to the US next week to press for her release and seek information about her other two children, a girl who is now nine years old and a five-year-old son who was just seven months old when the family disappeared, relatives said.
NEW TUNE
US officials had previously denied holding any of her children.
“The disclosure that Ahmed is in US custody is a great development,” Fauzia said. “I have a feeling that Dr Afia may be repatriated to Pakistan very soon, possibly before Sept. 3 or soon afterwards.
“This might be a wishful thinking, but at least this hope is what is keeping our whole family on our feet,” she said.
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