Homestretch: Part Two in the Dr. Aafia Siddiqui story

By Rahla Khan

The 86-year imprisonment sentence pronounced against Dr. Aafia Siddiqui by Judge Richard Berman in a Manhattan federal court on September 23, is by no means the end of her heartrending saga.International human rights activists, supporters across the world and her family hope that in time, it will be recorded as just another blip on the road to achieving justice, and ultimately, freedom from the clutches of an establishment that has systematically tortured, abused, falsely implicated, vilified and dehumanized the beleaguered neuroscientist and mother of three.Hundreds of protesters spontaneously marching towards the US Embassy in Karachi and other places in Pakistan are not the only people outraged by the sentence. Statements decrying the ?miscarriage of justice' poured in from international human rights organizations, politicians, journalists, lawyers and ordinary people around the world, within hours of the sentencing. READ MORE