„Who will defend Scientist Aafia Siddiqui?“ – New Zawahiri Tape

by Florian Flade

Al-Qaeda´s media production wing presets a new audio message of Osama Bin Laden´s deputy, Ayman az-Zawahiri, titled „Who is defending Aafia Siddiqui?“

Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist, was sentenced to 86 years in prison by an American court for trying to kill a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. The 38 year old Pakistani was suspected of being an al-Qaeda member and interrogated by U.S. forces in 2008. During interrogation Siddiqui grabbed a gun and tried to kill one of the Americans in the room.

Labeled „Lady al-Qaeda“, the case of the Pakistani scientist is the cause for angry protest in Pakistan, where many see her as a victim of America´s wars and demand her release.

In the new four-minute audio tape, which was released in Arabic, Urdu, Pashtu and Farsi, covering the main languages of the Afghanistan-Pakistan area, Zawahiri addresses the U.S. and the Muslims, saying as America judges, it will be judged. To the Muslim Ummah, Zawahiri asks who is willing to defend Aafia Siddiqui and fight for her release.

Transcript of the video here:

Dieses Dokument in Scribd anzeigen