Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO),said on Saturday that Dr Aafia Siddiqui “received some minor injuries”after an assault by a fellow inmate in a Texas prison.
“Our consul general in Houston visited Dr Siddiqui immediately to ascertainher wellbeing. She had received some minor injuries but was doing fine,”said Chaudhri, in response to media queries regarding her wellbeing.
Dr Siddiqui’s lawyer had said a day earlier that she suffered serious burninjuries on her face and nearly lost her eyesight when a fellow inmatethrew a mug of scalding hot liquid in her face.
The FO spokesperson said the attack on Dr Siddiqui, who is serving her86-year sentence at FMC Carswell prison in Fort Worth, Texas, was carriedout on July 30. He said, “Our Embassy in Washington DC as well as ourConsulate General in Houston immediately took up the matter with theconcerned US authorities.”
The spokesperson said that Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry lodged a formalcomplaint with the relevant US authorities, urging them “to thoroughlyinvestigate the matter and ensure safety and wellbeing of Dr Siddiqui”.
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He said that both the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC and theConsulate General of Pakistan in Houston “continue making every effort toensure that Dr Siddiqui is properly looked after during her incarcerationat FMC Carswell”.
Dr Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist jailed in the United States, wasindicted by a New York federal district court in September 2008 on chargesof attempted murder and assault, stemming from an incident during aninterview with the US authorities in Ghazni, Afghanistan. Dr Siddiquihowever denies the charges.
After 18 months in detention, she was tried and convicted in early 2010 andsentenced to 86 years in prison. She has since been imprisoned in the US.
