Aafia Siddiqui’s family and supporters continued to seek clemency in 2024. She was serving an 86-year federal sentence imposed after her 2010 conviction.
Siddiqui studied at MIT and earned a doctorate at Brandeis University. Her whereabouts between her disappearance in Pakistan in 2003 and her detention in Afghanistan in 2008 remain disputed. Her family alleges that she was secretly held in U.S. custody; that allegation should not be presented as an established finding.
The prosecution concerned a July 2008 incident in Ghazni, Afghanistan. Prosecutors said Siddiqui took a U.S. soldier’s rifle and fired at personnel questioning her. No one was struck by her alleged shots; she was shot and wounded. A New York jury convicted her of attempted murder, assault and related offenses in 2010.
Her family and lawyers have raised concerns about her health and treatment at FMC Carswell in Texas and have advocated for her return to Pakistan.
