“Lady al-Qaeda” Sues BOP for Guards’ Sexual Assaults
In a suit filed in federal court for the Northern District of Texas against the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on September 19, 2024, Aafia Siddiqui, 52, a Pakistani national serving an 86-year sentence for a terrorism-related conviction at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Carswell, alleged that staff subjected her to sexual assault, medical neglect and physical attacks, as well as denying the Muslim access to an imam.
Siddiqui, who earned degrees in the U.S., including a 2001 Ph.D. in neuroscience from Brandeis University, became radicalized after the 9/11 attacks that year, her ex-husband said. By 2003, she was fingered by fellow Pakistani and convicted al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who told his U.S. captors that she was another leader of the terrorist group. Siddiqui was arrested five years later with her children in Afghanistan. One of the U.S. officials attending her interrogation left his rifle on the floor, where she grabbed it and shot them. She was then convicted in 2010 of attempted murder and assault. Since then, Siddiqui’s case has been the subject of international attention; U.S. media nicknamed her “Lady al-Qaeda” while Pakistani officials demanded her release and protests were held in both Pakistan and the U.S. over her alleged mistreatment.
The lawsuit details multiple sexual assaults in BOP custody, including rapes that Siddiqui reported in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2018. Under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), 42 U.S.C. ch. 147 § 15601 et seq., BOP was required to promptly investigate the allegations and report the outcome to the prisoner. She was also owed protection from further attacks and separation from her alleged abusers. Despite that, Siddiqui claimed that the BOP failed to investigate her reports or take protective measures. The suit also alleges another attack by guards who beat her unconscious and raped her. In addition, the prisoner said that she has been denied medical and mental health care, including treatment for her PTSD and worsening hearing and vision.
FMC-Carswell has a history of sexual abuse allegations, with 35 women reporting assaults between 2014 and 2018. Siddiqui is held in solitary confinement—a “special management unit” in BOP-speak—where prisoners are even more vulnerable to abuse. Siddiqui’s attorneys have asked for a third-party investigation into her claims as well as access for her to independent medical care and religious accommodations. They also filed a clemency petition, arguing that she is innocent and citing discrepancies in the government’s case.
Islamic scholar Omar Suleiman has called Siddiqui’s case one of the “the greatest injustices that we saw take place in the wake of the surveillance and securitization of the Muslim community in the wake of 9/11.”
“The goal is to get her out of there and shut this place down,” said Bellaire attorney Maria Kari Aftab, the co-founder of the International Resistance Project representing Siddiqui. “From what I know now, Carswell is not fit for any woman, let alone a woman as deeply traumatized as Aafia. It’s just a huge stain on our justice system.” Siddiqui is also represented by attorney Naim Haroon of Sakhia Law Group in Plano. See: Siddiqui v. Peters, USDC (N. D. Tex.), Case No. 3:24-cv-02380.
Additional sources: KERA, Texas Standard
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