Dr Aafia Siddiqui denied imam visits

The alleged victim of a US miscarriage of justice, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, is being denied access to an imam, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.

Dr Aafia Siddiqui is currently imprisoned in FMC Carswell prison in the United States for allegations of terrorism, on charges of trying to kill US soldiers. Amid already rampant reports of torture, now it has emerged that she has been blocked from meeting with Imam Omar Sulaiman. The imam attempted to visit her but he was stopped by the prison officials.

He has shared that he has been trying to visit Dr Aafia, but he is being stopped to hide human rights abuses happening inside the prison.

He said, “This is a pretty basic request…to get a woman in this case…even if you believed her conviction…just basic spiritual support”. He said that this leads to the suspicion that “they are trying to hide even more than we know that they are trying to hide”.

Former prisoners have filed lawsuits highlight human rights abuses in the facility. Dr Aafia has also filed a detailed lawsuit alleging severe rights violation, against the US government and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Dr Aafia has been incarcerated for nearly two decades on terrorism charges.

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