Dr. Aafia Siddiqui – a Pakistan-citizen jailed in the US – met her sister, Dr. Fowzia at a prison hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday.
The two sisters met twice, beginning Tuesday will a third meeting was scheduled for today (Thursday) at Carswell, the prison medical facility in Fort Worth.
Dr. Aafia, a US citizen of Pakistani origin, had not seen any of her family members for over a decade.
"I have no words to describe my feelings. I wish I could hug her; hold her hand and bring her home," Dr. Fowzia had said prior to the much-anticipated meet.
However, Aafia Movement, which has been leading the efforts to bring her back home, said it was hardly the meeting the two sisters would have liked.
"The sterile visitation room at FMC Carswell was divided by glass. They were not allowed a first hug or even to touch after two decades."
Read this too: IHC Asks FO To Assist Dr Aafia’s Sister For Her Return
Dr. Fowzia was also forbidden to share with Aafia the photograph of her son and daughter, both now in their 20s.
"The background music for the meeting was the periodic rattle of heavy prison keys" and Fowzia was obviously shocked by the state of her younger sister, the statement added.
She was led to the meeting place in a tan prison uniform and a white headscarf, it said, adding her upper teeth were missing from a prison assault, and she had difficulty hearing due to a beating she had taken around the head.
Dr. Aafia spent the initial hour detailing the daily trauma that she has to go through everyday. "I miss my family every day, my mother, my father, you, my sister, and my children. I think of them all the time,” she was quoted as saying.
On Wednesday, Dr. Aafia met her sister and lawyer Clive Smith and Senator Mushtaq Ahmad, who had accompanied Dr. Fowzia from Pakistan.
The two sisters met twice, beginning Tuesday will a third meeting was scheduled for today (Thursday) at Carswell, the prison medical facility in Fort Worth.
Dr. Aafia, a US citizen of Pakistani origin, had not seen any of her family members for over a decade.
"I have no words to describe my feelings. I wish I could hug her; hold her hand and bring her home," Dr. Fowzia had said prior to the much-anticipated meet.
However, Aafia Movement, which has been leading the efforts to bring her back home, said it was hardly the meeting the two sisters would have liked.
"The sterile visitation room at FMC Carswell was divided by glass. They were not allowed a first hug or even to touch after two decades."
Read this too: IHC Asks FO To Assist Dr Aafia’s Sister For Her Return
Dr. Fowzia was also forbidden to share with Aafia the photograph of her son and daughter, both now in their 20s.
"The background music for the meeting was the periodic rattle of heavy prison keys" and Fowzia was obviously shocked by the state of her younger sister, the statement added.
She was led to the meeting place in a tan prison uniform and a white headscarf, it said, adding her upper teeth were missing from a prison assault, and she had difficulty hearing due to a beating she had taken around the head.
Dr. Aafia spent the initial hour detailing the daily trauma that she has to go through everyday. "I miss my family every day, my mother, my father, you, my sister, and my children. I think of them all the time,” she was quoted as saying.
On Wednesday, Dr. Aafia met her sister and lawyer Clive Smith and Senator Mushtaq Ahmad, who had accompanied Dr. Fowzia from Pakistan.