Islamabad: Afia Siddiqui, a Pakistani prisoner in the United States whose release was reportedly sought by a Texas hostage-taker this weekend, is serving an 86-year sentence for attempted murder of American soldiers.
Four people were freed on Sunday after a standoff at a synagogue in the US state for more than 10 hours. His suspected captive was killed.
The media quoted a US official informed about the matter as saying that the man was demanding the release of 49-year-old Siddiqui.
Her lawyer said in a statement to CNN that she had “absolutely no involvement” in the hostage situation, and condemned the man’s actions.
A US-educated Pakistani scientist, he was jailed in 2010 for attacking US troops in Afghanistan.
She was the first woman the US suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda, but was never convicted.
At the age of 18, Siddiqui traveled to the US to study at the prestigious MIT in Boston, where his brother lived, later earning a PhD in neuroscience at Brandeis University.
But after the 9/11 terror attacks of 2001, she came under the radar of the FBI for donations to Islamic organizations and was involved in the purchase of $10,000 worth of night-vision goggles and books on the war.
The US suspected that she had joined al-Qaeda from the US, returned to Pakistan where she married into the family of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – an architect of the 9/11 attacks.
She went missing with her three children in Karachi around 2003.
Five years later she arrived in Pakistan’s war-torn neighboring Afghanistan, where she was arrested by local forces in the troubled southeastern province of Ghazni.
During her interrogation by the US military, she grabbed a rifle and opened fire while shouting “Death to America” and “I want to kill the Americans”.
The soldiers narrowly escaped, but she was injured.
Her imprisonment sparked outrage in her home country and her supporters claim she was the victim of a secret Pakistan-US conspiracy.
After the sentencing, al-Qaeda’s then number two called on Muslims to “avenge” the decision.
His release has previously been at the center of militant demands, including the simultaneous capture of two hostage crises in Pakistan. James Foley, an American journalist who was beheaded by Islamic State in 2014.
Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst, tweeted: “Siddiqui is not well known in the US, but he is a big name in Pakistan – many see him as an innocent victim.”
In a previous article, he described her as a causal celebrity among Islamic extremists, adding that she was seen as a “powerful symbol of how poorly Americans treat innocent Muslims in the global campaign against terror”. .
The issue has been a subject of long-running tension between Pakistan and the US.
During his election campaign, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, an open critic of US actions involving the War on Terror, vowed to release him. he offered to free Shakeel Afridi, who is in a Pakistani prison for his role in helping Americans trace the founder of al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Four people were freed on Sunday after a standoff at a synagogue in the US state for more than 10 hours. His suspected captive was killed.
The media quoted a US official informed about the matter as saying that the man was demanding the release of 49-year-old Siddiqui.
Her lawyer said in a statement to CNN that she had “absolutely no involvement” in the hostage situation, and condemned the man’s actions.
A US-educated Pakistani scientist, he was jailed in 2010 for attacking US troops in Afghanistan.
She was the first woman the US suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda, but was never convicted.
At the age of 18, Siddiqui traveled to the US to study at the prestigious MIT in Boston, where his brother lived, later earning a PhD in neuroscience at Brandeis University.
But after the 9/11 terror attacks of 2001, she came under the radar of the FBI for donations to Islamic organizations and was involved in the purchase of $10,000 worth of night-vision goggles and books on the war.
The US suspected that she had joined al-Qaeda from the US, returned to Pakistan where she married into the family of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – an architect of the 9/11 attacks.
She went missing with her three children in Karachi around 2003.
Five years later she arrived in Pakistan’s war-torn neighboring Afghanistan, where she was arrested by local forces in the troubled southeastern province of Ghazni.
During her interrogation by the US military, she grabbed a rifle and opened fire while shouting “Death to America” and “I want to kill the Americans”.
The soldiers narrowly escaped, but she was injured.
Her imprisonment sparked outrage in her home country and her supporters claim she was the victim of a secret Pakistan-US conspiracy.
After the sentencing, al-Qaeda’s then number two called on Muslims to “avenge” the decision.
His release has previously been at the center of militant demands, including the simultaneous capture of two hostage crises in Pakistan. James Foley, an American journalist who was beheaded by Islamic State in 2014.
Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst, tweeted: “Siddiqui is not well known in the US, but he is a big name in Pakistan – many see him as an innocent victim.”
In a previous article, he described her as a causal celebrity among Islamic extremists, adding that she was seen as a “powerful symbol of how poorly Americans treat innocent Muslims in the global campaign against terror”. .
The issue has been a subject of long-running tension between Pakistan and the US.
During his election campaign, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, an open critic of US actions involving the War on Terror, vowed to release him. he offered to free Shakeel Afridi, who is in a Pakistani prison for his role in helping Americans trace the founder of al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
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