Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 2013-07-22

Dr. Aafia Siddqui a Pakistani woman and MIT-trained neuroscientist abducted and jailed by the United States could be back in Pakistan before Eid.

Speaking to a private TV channel, Umar Hameed the spokesperson of the Foreign Office said the US has agreed to extradite Dr. Siddiqui under a prisoner exchange deal offering Islamabad an agreement in which both sides will release each other’s inmates; after which the Pakistani scientist will be allowed to serve the remaining part of her imprisonment in Pakistan.

According to the documents, the US told Pakistan in writing that the only legal way for the extradition of Dr. Siddiqui was to sign a prisoner swap agreement with the US. The US offered two deals that include European Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and Convention on Serving Criminal Sentences Abroad in this regard.

However the terms of the deal demand that Pakistan accept the ruling of a US court, in which Dr. Siddiqui was convicted on terror-related charges.

Meanwhile, it was also revealed that the Interior Ministry had formed a task force following the US offer which held its first session on July 3 to review the agreement. The task force was established under the directives of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

The Pakistani neuroscientist was sentenced to 86 years in prison after she was convicted of grabbing a US soldier s M-4 assault rifle and trying to shoot a group of FBI agents and soldiers at an Afghan police compound in July 2008, a charge she consistently denied during the trial.

Dr. Siddiqui is being held at the notorious Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Carswell, Texas, where she is kept in the Special Housing Unit (SHU), which is the most severe confinement category.