“Lady al-Qaeda” files lawsuit alleging physical and sexual abuse at Fort Worth federal prison

A Pakistani woman incarcerated at a federal prison in Fort Worth has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and U.S. government officials, claiming she suffered physical and sexual abuse and was deprived of her religious rights.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court on September 19 by Aafia Siddiqui.

She has been incarcerated at Carswell Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth since 2010 after being convicted in New York of the attempted murder of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. Following the conviction, Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison.

The lawsuit alleges that Siddiqui was sexually abused by both prison staff and other inmates and was retaliated against for reporting incidents of sexual abuse, including rape. The lawsuit says two prison guards sexually assaulted Siddiqui and later attacked her with a “burning, acidic liquid” after she reported the abuse, leaving visible burn marks.

The lawsuit also states that at one point two other guards burst into her cell, beat Siddiqui until she was unconscious, and then sexually assaulted her while she was unconscious.

The lawsuit also alleges that prison staff prevented Siddiqui from meeting with an imam, an Islamic religious leader, which the suit alleges is a violation of her religious freedom and a violation of BOP policy.

According to BOP’s pastoral visitation policy, prison chaplains must “facilitate the arrangement of pastoral visits by a clergyman or representative of the inmate’s faith” when an inmate requests it.

Maria Kari, one of Siddiqui’s lawyers, said the lawsuit is intended to shed light on a larger pattern of systemic sexual abuse at FMC Carswell, a women’s prison. The lawsuit references a 2022 Fort Worth Star-Telegram investigative series that found the prison reported the most sexual abuse allegations between 2014 and 2018 than any other federal prison for women.

“It’s not just about making Aafia comfortable,” Kari said. “It’s also about the broader system failures that we have here in the state of Texas that are causing things like this to happen at facilities like Carswell.”

Kari also said that Siddiqui’s situation was misunderstood and that the events that led to her imprisonment were blamed on her.

Siddiqui, 52, is known in counterterrorism circles as “Lady al-Qaeda.” Authorities said she worked as a courier for Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, known as the main architect of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Siddiqui first came to the United States in 1990 to attend the University of Houston. She later moved to MIT, where she earned a BS in biology and later earned her PhD in behavioral neuroscience from Brandeis University. After 9/11, she returned to Pakistan and divorced her first husband, with whom she had three children.

Siddiqui was then married in an arranged marriage to Muhammad’s nephew Ammar al-Baluchi. The lawsuit said Siddiqui’s husband abused her. In 2004, the FBI placed her on the FBI’s most wanted al-Qaeda fugitives list – the only woman to appear on that list.

Siddiqui has many supporters who claim she is innocent and a victim of the war on terror. Her arrest and detention have been the subject of controversy and protests, and militants have attempted to force her release through prisoner exchanges, including against American journalist James Foley.

The person who took four hostages at a synagogue in Colleyville in 2022 also called for their release.

The lawsuit cites a period between 2003 and 2008 and alleges that Siddiqui and her children were “abducted” in a joint operation by US and Pakistani intelligence agencies and held in a “secret CIA facility.” The lawsuit says she was released from U.S. custody in 2008 along with one of her children and ordered to travel to Ghazni, Afghanistan.

In 2008, she was arrested in Ghazni while in possession of chemicals and handwritten notes that referenced American landmarks and mentions of a “mass casualty attack,” as well as notes related to the production of chemical weapons and explosives, according to court documents emerges.

According to her 2008 indictment, an Army officer placed an M4 rifle at his feet during an interview with U.S. soldiers, which Siddiqui then grabbed and fired at the soldiers in the room. No soldiers were injured, but Siddiqui was shot when the soldiers returned fire, the indictment says.

However, Kari claims that all of this evidence is fake. She said the chemicals and notes were “planted” on Siddiqui after she was taken into custody, citing people who Kari said took Siddiqui into custody in Ghazni. Kari also questioned why a rifle was left unattended near a suspected suicide bomber, saying Siddiqui was the only person shot during the exchange of fire.

The lawsuit alleges that Siddiqui also suffered physical, psychological and sexual torture during the time she was allegedly in U.S. custody in Afghanistan. As Kari puts it, Siddiqui’s situation continued to deteriorate from her disappearance in 2003 to her current incarceration at FMC Carswell.

Kari also said that Siddiqui’s legal team filed a clemency petition in her original criminal case in New York.

“In the long run, we have found all sorts of evidence that overwhelmingly proves she is innocent,” Kari said. She didn’t try to shoot American soldiers.”

The lawsuit names the United States of America, the BOP, Collete Peters, the BOP director, and several prison employees. A BOP spokesman said the department does not comment on pending litigation, ongoing litigation or ongoing investigations.

The lawsuit is not Siddiqui’s first. A previous lawsuit from 2022 alleged that another inmate hit her in the face with a coffee cup full of hot liquid.

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