Dr Aafia Siddiqui SB VII MIT 95 lived in McCormick Hall.  She was accepted at MIT as a transfer student from the University of Houston in 1992. While living in Texas she won a nationwide essay competition about “how intercultural attitudes in America helped shape a multinational world.” Awards she won at MIT include the Carroll L. Wilson Award and the William L. Stewart, Jr. Award Her PhD in cognitive neuroscience from Brandeis was completed in 2001. She specialized in the process of learning in children who are developmentally challenged.  Her dissertation was entitled:" Separating the Components of Imitation." Aafia and her 3 children disappeared as a result of extraordinary rendition in March of 2003 in her native Pakistan. Her oldest son recalled that his baby brother Suleman had been left bloody by the roadside during that 2003 kidnapping operation. Her two older children Ahmed and Maryam were released to her relatives after years in captivity.  When Maryam was returned in 2010, she only spoke English with an American accent.  In 2008, following years of secret imprisonment and torture, Dr. Siddiqui was briefly released in Afghanistan and then set up to be killed. She was accused of grabbing the gun of an American soldier and firing shots in an escape attempt. Forensics and eyewitness testimony from the Afghan police commander proved this to be a lie. Dr. Siddiqui was the only person shot by an American soldier who panicked when he saw her unrestrained in the police compound. Handwritten documents used to incriminate her during the trial were secured from Aafia during her years in captivity, by threatening to torture her children. Dr. Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years for attempted murder by Judge Richard Berman, the federal judge better known in the US for deciding in favor of American football star Tom Brady in the “Deflategate” case.  After her sentencing on 9/23/10, Dr. Siddiqui appealed to her supporters to not take any revenge or get emotional. She asked that those who had wronged her be forgiven, as she forgave Judge Berman. Dr. Siddqui is presently being held in solitary confinement at FMC Carswell in Ft Worth, TX. Her communication with the outside world, even with family, is so restricted that it is almost non-existent.  In 2008, protests against the kidnapping of Dr. Siddiqui and her children (as well as others who were made to secretly disappear in Pakistan post 9/11), were one of the crucial arguments of the Pakistani opposition that forced President Musharaf to resign.(RT)  According to different Pakistani human rights officers, from ÃÂuman Rights Watch (HRW) to the Dr. Aafia Siddiqui Humanitarian Support Committee, between 700 and 1,600 people have gone missing in Pakistan since 9/11. Pakistani human rights activists believe that the secret services of their country, in cooperation with the CIA, are responsible for their kidnappings.  (https://www.rt.com/usa/aafia-siddiqui-pakistan-us/The USA against Aafia Siddiqui) Here is video close to four minutes in duration wherein a UK journalist is interviewed. She reports that Dr Aafia’s fingerprints were not on the rifle that she is alleged to have used, and that the testimony of the American soldiers and FBI agents contradicted their own earlier reports. http://aafiamovement.com/victoria-britain-on-the-case-of-dr-aafia-siddiqui-with-urdu-subtitles/ I seek to dialog with anyone who knew her during her years at MIT; and to anyone willing to help us get the word out. Professional public relations assistance would especially be helpful. I am friends with one of the primary American activists for her cause. David Slesinger SB XV 72 freshman council president, sophomore class president, undergraduate association executive committee as a junior. dslesinger@alum.mit.edu 410-499-5403 (can receive texts) Happy to answer questions. More extensive information: http://aafiamovement.com/wp-content/themes/goodnews/just%20the%20facts/Just%20the%20Facts/Facts-about-aafia.swf (33 pp) http://aafiamovement.com/