Free Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and attny Lynne Stewart: Press Conf. & Rally: Wash. DC - Mar 8
International Action
Center
IACenter.org 201-388-7428
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 6,
2013
A Coalition of Conscience
holds Washington, D.C., Press Conference & Support
Rally
Friday, March 8
-- "International Women's Day"
To call for emergency action
for two women political prisoners
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and
attorney Lynne Stewart
On Friday, March 8 at 9 a.m.
a press conference in the Zenger Room, National Press Club in Washington,
D.C., will focus on the emergency
situation of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and the health
crisis of Attorney Lynne Stewart. The gathering will
also pay homage to the memory of Rachel Corrie, and
support her family’s campaign for accountability.
At 3 p.m., a support rally
for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui will be held at the Pakistan Embassy, 3517 International
Court, Washington, D.C., 20008.
The speakers at the Press
Conference will include:
Mauri Saalakhan, Director, The Peace
Thru Justice Foundation
Ralph Poynter, Lynne Stewart's
husband
Saleen Muhammad Aktar, American
Muslim Alliance and Pakistan American Democratic Forum
Sue Udry, Executive Director,
Defending Dissent Foundation
Steve Downs, National Coalition to
Protect Civil Freedoms
Joe Lombardo, National coordinator of
United National Antiwar Coalition
Anne Wright, retired U.S. Army
Colonel and former U.S. diplomat
Sara Flounders, Co-Director,
International Action Center
The International Action Center will
join civil rights and social justice organizations at the press conference at
the National Press Club on Friday, March 8 at 9 a.m., and participate in a
support rally for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui at the Pakistan Embassy at 3
p.m.
Call to Repatriate Dr. Aafia
Siddiqui to Pakistan
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is a citizen of
Pakistan. She was not charged with committing any crime on U.S. soil, nor is
she a U.S. citizen. Dr. Siddiqui, serving an 86-year sentence in federal prison
in Carswell, Texas, was not charged with terrorism, nor was she ever charged
with injuring or harming anyone anywhere. She is a victim of terrible
life-threatening injuries. She should not have been extradited to the U.S.
or put on a show trial in the U.S. She should not be held in solitary
confinement.
Siddiqui and her family have
repeatedly maintained that she and her three young children were kidnapped in
March 2003 and that, while in U.S. custody, she was tortured and held in
isolation for five years in Afghanistan.
Aafia Siddiqui holds a place in the
hearts of people of conscience internationally, irrespective of their faith,
nationality or location. Her case represents the U.S. policy of secret
rendition and the many disappeared and missing in Pakistan.
March 2013 marks the
10th year of Dr. Siddiqui’s political imprisonment
– five years of secret imprisonment and torture overseas, and five years
of imprisonment under unconstitutional conditions in the United
States.
There is immense international
outrage about the past torture and the present conditions of Dr. Siddiqui's
imprisonment. The campaign to secure the repatriation of Dr. Siddiqui to
Pakistan has the support of millions of people in Pakistan.
A petition to U.S. and
Pakistani government officials urging Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s immediate
repatriation to Pakistan is available at: http://iacenter.org/Siddiq uiPetition/
Call for
‘Compassionate Release’ of attorney Lynne Stewart
Internationally known human rights
attorney Lynne Stewart is faced with an immediate, life-threatening crisis. Her
breast cancer, which had been in remission prior to her imprisonment, has
appeared in her lymph nodes, on her shoulder, in her bones and her lungs
– and has reached Stage Four. After eight years of post-conviction
freedom, Lynne Stewart’s bail was revoked arbitrarily and her
imprisonment ordered, precluding a surgery she had scheduled in a major New
York hospital.
Also held at Carswell Federal Prison,
where trips to physicians involve attempting to walk with 10 pounds of shackles
on her wrists and ankles, Stewart has lacked ready access to physicians and
specialists. It can take weeks to see a medical provider in prison. When held
in the hospital, 73-year-old Lynne has been shackled, wrist and ankle, to the
bed.
Unjustly charged and convicted for
the “crime” of providing her client with a fearless defense, the
prosecution of Lynne Stewart is an assault upon the basic freedoms of us
all.
There is an immediate remedy
available for Stewart: The Bureau of Prisons can file a motion with the Court
to reduce sentences “for extraordinary and compelling reasons.”
Life-threatening illness is foremost among these, and Stewart meets every
rational and humane criterion for compassionate release.
A petition to U.S.
government officials and federal prison officials urging Compassionate Release
for Lynne Stewart is available at: www.IACenter.org/LynneStew artPetition
Call for Accountability for
the death of Rachel Corrie
The late Rachel Corrie was a gifted
and compassionate 23-year-old activist. In the presence of many witnesses, she
was brutally crushed by an Israeli soldier operating an American-made
Caterpillar bulldozer in broad daylight 10 years ago, on March 16, 2003, while
attempting to nonviolently prevent the destruction of a
Palestinian family’s home in the Rafah refugee camp.
The state of Israel denied
responsibility, and, as usual, blames the victim
for their crime! In August 2012, an Israeli court
upheld the results of Israel's 2003 military investigation, ruling that the
Israeli government was not responsible for Corrie's death -- she
was.
Rachel’s parents have continued
a political and legal struggle for accountability.
Special Note: Demonstrations
will also be held in Fort Worth, Texas, and at Carswell Federal Prison for Dr.
Aafia Siddiqui on March 29 & 30th. For additional information, contact 202-246-9608
