Pakistani neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, currently in U.S. custody, has expressed hope for a presidential pardon from President Joe Biden before his term ends and Donald Trump assumes office. Speaking through her legal team, Siddiqui described her ordeal as a “daily pain” and expressed faith in eventual freedom, saying, “Inshallah, one day I will be free from this torture.”
Her lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, has urged Biden to grant clemency, submitting a detailed 76,500-word dossier in support of her case. As Biden’s presidency concludes, with 39 pardons and 3,989 sentence commutations already granted, Siddiqui’s family and legal team hope her case will be included.
Stafford Smith claims Siddiqui was wrongfully implicated due to intelligence errors and alleges that she and her children were detained in Pakistan in 2003 before being handed over to the CIA and taken to Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base.