A man was holding hostages inside a synagogue in Texas. The hostage-taker demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui. Siddiqui is a Pakistani woman, imprisoned for trying to kill American service members in Afghanistan.
Man takes people hostage in Texas
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According to the authorities, a man was holding hostages inside a synagogue in Texas on Saturday and was demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui. She is currently imprisoned for trying to kill members of the American service in Afghanistan. She is serving an 86 year-long prison sentence after her conviction in Manhattan back in 2010. Previously, she was detained in Afghanistan for two years.
The justice department had initially accused her to be an al-Qaida operative. However, her supporters believe in her innocence. Aafia Siddiqui is in Fort Worth, Texas, a federal prison. Recently, in July 2021, she received serious injuries after facing an attack from another inmate. It prompted several protests from religious and human rights groups who were calling on the authorities to remove her from imprisonment. They have also called on Pakistan’s government to fight for her liberation from US custody.
Who is Aafia Siddiqui?
Aafia Siddiqui is a neuroscientist from Pakistan who studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Brandeis University. After September 11 attacks, she attracted American law enforcement’s attention. The Justice Department and FBI called her an “al-Qaida operative and facilitator” in a news conference in May 2004. They also warned of an al-Quida planned attack. Later in 2008, the American officials in Afghanistan held her back. According to American officials, she possed handwritten notes describing the construction of ‘dirty bombs’. She also had a list of cities targetted for a “mass casualty attack’.
Additionally, authorities also say that she was guilty of grabbing a US Army officer’s M-4 rifle and open firing the members assigned for her interrogation. And convicted for all her charges in 2010. However, during her hearing in Manhattan, she started rambling about world peace and ‘forgave the judge’. Her lawyers also asked for leniency due to her mental illness. Several Pakistani officials condemned the punishment, leading to protests and criticism. Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, a man from Ohio tried to kill US military members and free her from jail.
