Carswell Vigil Calls Attention to Trauma Faced by Aafia and other Muslim Women Prisoners

By Nadrat Siddique

A vigil for political prisoner Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was held on February 25 outside FMC Carswell. It was called at very short notice by Nadrat Siddique, of the Women's Committee to Free Aafia. The action followed Siddique's completion of her 55th marathon at age 55. That morning she ran the 26.2 miles of the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth, TX, not far from FMC Carswell, where Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is caged, and came to the vigil directly from there, arriving half an hour late as a result of the prolonged exertion in the Texas heat.

Siddique said Aafia, like the huge numbers of Palestinian women prisoners being held by Israel, had been treated as a non-person, with no recognizable rights. She had been assaulted and raped on both sides of the Atlantic, and the governments and prison authorities involved were liable, since they had failed to protect a prisoner under their charge. Aafia should be released immediately, Siddique said.

El-Hajj Mauri Saalakhan, of the Aafia Foundation, was a guest speaker at the vigil. He has been coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for over a decade, mobilizing support for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, whose case was initially completely ignored by most major Muslim organizations. He organized annual protests at the prison, sometimes in concert with a smattering of local Muslim groups. He said that Aafia's case was a litmus test for the entire Muslim Ummah, and that the dearth of a response to her prolonged suffering indicated that the Ummah had failed. He also called upon local imams in the DFW area to visit Aafia in prison, as it would uplift her spirits, and keep the authorities on notice that the community was alert to her suffering.

Photos from the protest are here.

#FreeAafiaSiddiqui #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #FMCCarswell

Notes from the Cowtown Marathon

I'm 55 years old, and today I ran my 55th marathon, the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth, Texas. It is also the 11th one I've dedicated to the cause of political prisoner Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

She's a Pakistani woman academic serving an 86-year prison sentence in Fort Worth, TX. The evidence against her at trial was completely trumped up, and continuing to imprison her is one of the greatest crimes by the U.S. government against the Ummah.

 Since it was close to International Women's Day, I also dedicated my race to the cause of Palestinian women political prisoners. Israel currently holds 800+ Palestinian women without charge or trial. They are denied all family contact and access to counsel. Many of them have been raped, tortured, and beaten in detention. All of this is in clear violation of international rules and law, and Israel must be held accountable.

Personal notes:

 - My finish time was a miserable 4:21 (read 4 hrs 21 minutes). Still, it was (by my novice standards) not bad for an out-of-town marathon, particularly one done in my new-found role as caregiver (with the massive amounts of sleep lag that entails).

- I placed 3rd place in my division.

- The course was hilly, and traversed a good chunk of Fort Worth.

- Around Mile 8, a group of strong, fast Pakistani male runners caught up to me. I noticed them because they were talking incessantly in Urdu amongst themselves, about different marathons in Pakistan. They talked even as we were going up some of the steeper hills! One of them was Dallas-based physician Salman Khan. He was running the ultra-marathon (50k, or 31.06 miles), while pacing his friends. The other two had traveled all the way from Karachi for today's race.

- Of the two Pakistanis who had come from Karachi, one was running the ultra, while the other was doing the marathon. And these men had trained in Pakistan, with its very hot, humid climate, rolling blackouts (“load-shedding”), and adverse (in many areas) running conditions. So, they were not only fit, but had great dedication and discipline to get to this point.

- One of them later told me he was the nephew of Pasban Party chair Altaf Shakoor and lived in his house. (Pasban is a populist Pakistani political party, which advocates for workers rights and social justice. Some of its principals have been prominent in the Pakistan-based Aafia Movement.)

- So, Altaf’s nephew had seen me from time to time on his uncle’s Facebook page. Altaf himself was very active in the movement to free Aafia. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear that the nephew was involved in that, or any other social justice cause.

- I was thrilled to learn that Pakistan now hosted marathons, something that seemed like a pipe dream in the past. At the same time, it saddened me that well-trained, extremely fit Pakistani athletes like the ones I met at Cowtown, and others representing Pakistan on an official level failed to use their position to advocate for Aafia, or, it seemed, for any social justice issue. Perhaps the dual challenges of training in extremely adverse climate and getting the funding they needed to travel to far away competitions precluded them from anything but the actual race.

 - The temperature at Cowtown was 76 degrees for the last hour. That's hot for a marathon. And it didn't help that I had trained exclusively in the DC-Maryland area, where it is much cooler.

- Complete disclosure: I planned to wear my kaffiyah (Palestinian scarf) during the race, and even brought it to the start line for the purpose. But it was simply too hot. And I wimped. I put it on only afterwards.

- I was not feeling it today, and wanted dearly to quit midway through the race, but I had too many people waiting on me at the prison to vigil for Aafia afterwards. Once again the mental image of Aafia’s sweet, innocent face, swathed in her now famous yellow hijab, propelled me across the finish line.

 

#FreeAafiaSiddiqui #FreePalestine #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners

Fifty-five at (Age) Fifty-Five: Cowtown Marathon for Aafia

I'm 55 years old, and today I ran my 55th marathon, the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth, Texas. It is also the 11th one I've dedicated to the cause of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's freedom. Previously, I ran the following marathons for Aafia:

Washington DC Marathon (2016), Boston Marathon (2017), Rock N' Roll DC Marathon (2018), Chicago Marathon (2018), Boston Marathon (2019), Chicago Marathon (2019),
Fort Worth Marathon (2021), Chicago Marathon (2022), BMW Dallas Marathon (2022), and BMW Dallas Marathon (2023, unregistered).

I've been running since age 14, but it was only in the last decade or so that I galvanized the courage to run for the causes dear to my heart. I studied the heroic postures against White Supremacy by athletes like Tommy Smith and John Carlos (1968 Olympics). And those of Vincent Matthews and Wayne Collett (1972 Olympics). Also, I examined the actions of numerous Arab and Muslim athletes refusing to play against Israel. Like all of them, I believe it is the duty of athletes of conscience to use the sports arena to call attention to issues of social justice.

A marathon, 26.2 miles is not easy to run. And, there is no immediate gratification, either in the training, or on race day itself. Indeed it requires a mountain of sabr (patience) and perseverance, even when one doesn't feel good and would like nothing better than to stop running. Why, then, do I run for Aafia? I am convinced she is completely and utterly innocent. Her treatment at U.S. hands seems to be the worst dealt to any Muslim in U.S. custody.

And because it is written:
"And why should ye not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)?- Men, women, and children, whose cry is: "Our Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from thee one who will protect; and raise for us from thee one who will help!" (Qur'an, 4:75)

That is why I run for Aafia, a woman who should never gave been locked up in the first place.

#FreeAafiaSiddiqui #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #FMCCarswell