Born in Pakistan in 1972, Siddiqui moved to the United States in 1990 on a student visa and earned a PhD in neuroscience. She attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then Brandeis University. During her sophomore year, Siddiqui won a $5,000 grant for a research project on “Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women.”
In 1993, Siddiqui volunteered with the Muslim Students Association (MSA) to fundraise for the charity Al-Kifah Refugee Cente. She blamed the United States for the suffering of Muslims around the world.
In 1995, Siddiqui married Mohammed Amjad Khan, a doctor from Karachi, Pakistan.The couple attended the Islamic Society of Boston’s Prospect Street mosque. In May 2002, FBI agents questioned the couple about online purchases of night vision goggles, body armor, and military books.
Siddiqui’s family alleges that Pakistani intelligence turned Siddiqui over to U.S. authorities. In April 2003, NBC News reported that Siddiqui was arrested in Pakistan. No other information on her capture was given. Advocacy organizations claim U.S. agents kidnapped and imprisoned Siddiqui at a secret U.S. prison at Afghanistan’s Bagram airfield where she was interrogated, tortured, and held in solitary confinement for five years.
The crime she committed could only have been be done by a
During her interrogation by U.S. Army officers, FBI agents, and Army-contracted interpreters at an Afghan police compound, Siddiqui (a 90 pound woman) was accused of grabbing the M-4 rifle of a U.S. Army officer, shooting at another Army officer and assaulting an Army interpreter who tried to wrestle the rifle away from her. She was also accused of assaulting the FBI agents and Army officers who tried to subdue her. No U.S. officials were injured, but Siddiqui was shot in the stomach during the struggle and underwent emergency surgery at Afghanistan’s Bagram airfield. Was she defending herself during the interrogation from rape and torture?
Inmates from Bagram reported the screams of a female inmate in solitary confinement that could be heard throughout the facility. U.S. officials deny Siddiqui’s account of torture and rape which is widely accepted as true in Pakistan.
In September 2008, the U.S. government indicted Siddiqui on charges of attempting to kill U.S. officers, using a firearm three counts of assault of U.S. officers. On February 3, 2010, Following a two-week trial in New York City, Siddiqui was convicted of all charges against her.
Siddiqui has never been charged with terrorism-related offenses.
Thousands protested across Pakistan following Siddiqui's conviction. That September, Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison. Since her incarceration, she has attained what media and analysts call “SUPERSTAR” status in her native Pakistan.*
In 2010, Pakistani public outcry led then-Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and other Pakistani politicians to, unsuccessfully, lobby for Siddiqui’s release. Gilani described Siddiqui as a “daughter of the nation.”* The Pakistani government reportedly paid for Siddiqui’s legal fees.* Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan called for Siddiqui’s release in 2019.*
On July 30, 2021, an inmate smashed a coffee mug filled with a hot liquid in Siddiqui’s face in her cell causing multiple burns to her face. Siddiqui was placed in administrative solitary confinement following the incident. In August, the advocacy group CAGE called for Siddiqui’s release. A Facebook group calling for Siddiqui’s freedom has more than 66,000 followers. On October 20, 2021, members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Leadership Council of New York, and approximately 20 other human-rights and religious groups protested outside the Pakistani consulate in New York City calling on the Pakistani government to seek Siddiqui’s repatriation. The organizers planned similar protests in Boston and Washington, D.C.