US agrees to extradite Aafia Siddiqui

Daughter of the nation coming back to serve her remaining sentence in Pakistan.

Dunya News: Pakistan:-US agrees on Aafia Siddiqui’s extradition…

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - In the latest breakthrough, the US has offered Pakistan to sign prisoner swap agreement for the extradition of Dr Aafia Siddiqi, after which the Pakistani scientist will be allowed to serve the remaining part of her imprisonment in homeland.

Talking to Dunya News during morning programme ‘Khabar Yeh Hai , the spokesperson of the foreign office Umar Hameed also confirmed that the US has offered Pakistan to sign prisoner swap agreement after which both countries will release each others prisoners.

According to the documents acquired from Interior Ministry, the US told Pakistan in written that the only legal way for the extradition of Dr Aafia Siddiqi was to sign prisoner swap agreement with the US. The US offered two deals that include European Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and Convention on Serving Criminal Sentences Abroad in this regard.

Meanwhile, it was also revealed that the Interior Ministry had formed a task force following the US offer which held its first session on July 3 to review the agreement.

The task force was established under the directives of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

The Pakistani neuroscientist was sentenced to 86 years in prison after she was convicted of grabbing a US soldier s M-4 assault rifle and trying to shoot a group of FBI agents and soldiers at an Afghan police compound in July 2008, a charge she consistently denied during the trial.

Reported by Rauf Klasra (Editor Investigation, Dunya News)

Re: US agrees to extradite Aafia Siddiqui

Not sure whether it is a gimmick or for real, but discussions on the said agreement were held a long time ago during PPPs tenure as well. Nothing came of it. Not sure if it was stalled by US or Pak govt, but a widely held argument was that signing of the treaty will not ensure that Afiya will be repatriated to Pakistan. It will only be a first step.
Apparently, repatriation clauses in the agreements offered primarily refer to prisoners who are jailed for petty, or repatriatable crimes. Murder and terrorism probably dont fall in this category, which is why the agreement was stalled the last time. And even though we believe otherwise, the charge framed against Afiya by the US includes terrorism.
Regardless, hope she is repatriated, for her sake and for the sake of her kids.

Re: US agrees to extradite Aafia Siddiqui

As expected, the terms and conditions are such that it will be virtually impossible for this to go through. Can you imagine Afiya being in jail within Pakistan? It will be a political suicide for any party.

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