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From Associated Press of Pakistan:
http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59565&Itemid=2
Pakistan asks US to repatriate Aafia Siddiqui in light of Hospital Report
WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (APP): The Pakistani embassy here has asked the United States to urgently repatriate Dr Aafia Siddiqui to Pakistan for her rehabilitation in light of a report that her current mental state renders the neuroscientist unable to stand court trial.
Under instructions of Ambassador Husain Haqqani, the embassy wrote a letter to the U.S. State Department, requesting that 36-year old Ms Siddiqui may urgently be repatriated to Pakistan where she will be mentally rehabilitated and monitored, according to a spokesman.
This action will present a positive and more humane view of Pakistan-US relations and help in improving public perceptions of Pakistanis about the United States, the embassy emphasized.
The Forensic Evaluation Report by FMC Carsville Texas Hospital had concluded that Ms Siddiqui “is not currently competent to proceed as a result of her mental disease, which renders her unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against her or to assist properly in her defense.”
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Of course, you'll be pleased to know that out on the RW blogosphere, they are calling for her to be shot first, or tortured and then dumped out of a plane or shipped in a pigskin sack. All the "patriots" who believe in the U.S. Constitution, except when it interferes with the ability to sound suitably cruel and tough on the internet.
Pakistan is neither a signatory of the Convention Against Torture nor the Rome Statute. They have very little leverage with the U.S. except violation of a 1959 extradition treaty. (Siddiqui was extraordinarily rendered from Afghanistan, since there was no extradition proceedings or agreement, and the Pakistani consulate was not informed of the move).
As I commented before, the case shines pretty intense light on gaps and holes in the American system of justice, throwing into sharp relief the inability of many even good people to distinguish between relief from inhumane conditions immediately and justice eventually, and why without relief, justice itself is injured. That does not bode well for any mistreated prisoner who has the misfortune to be incarcerated as an enemy combatant somewhere other than Guantanamo Bay, nor does it bode well for any at Guantanamo Bay who are being held in conditions that Americans are too used to, but that can become inhumane when previous abuse changes the reaction of the prisoner to them. Torture isn't just a piece of exculpatory evidence for a defense, its a progressive wound that worsens with time and causes real damage.
