Aafia rejects govt’s offer for lawyer

By Masood Haider

NEW YORK: The government of Pakistan on Monday renewed its offer to Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani neuroscientist who is US prison in Brooklyn, to hire a defence lawyer for her, Pakistan embassy officials here said.

The offer was conveyed by Ambassador Husain Haqqani who telephoned her on Monday and urged her to “cooperate with the government’s effort to seek her release”.

Ms Siddiqui, who has been charged with firing on American soldier while in US custody in Afghanistan last year, firmly rejected the offer and instead asked the government to help Muslims the world over as the US was “attacking Islam and all the Muslims”.

According to an embassy spokesman, the ambassador advised her to “take the legal route” and offered to hire “any lawyer she names” to defend her in the court.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/21/2009