HRW asks Afghanistan to free Dr Aafia's son

NEW YORK (APP) - A leading international human rights watchdog has called on the Afghan government to immediately release 11-year-old Ahmed Siddiqui believed to be the son of Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, who is held on US federal charges in New York.

Ahmed Siddiqui, who was born in Boston and is a US citizen, was arrested along with her mother, a Pakistani national, in Afghanistan last month.

“Under Afghan and international law, Ahmed Siddiqui is too young to be treated as a criminal suspect,” said Joanne Mariner, terrorism and counter-terrorism programme director at HRW, a New York-based group, as she made a strong case for Ahmed’s release to his family.

According to an Afghan Interior Ministry official quoted in the Washington Post, Ahmed was held briefly by the Interior Ministry after the arrest, and then transferred to the custody of the Afghan National Security Directorate, the country’s intelligence agency. His current whereabouts are unknown. The NDS is notorious for its brutal treatment of detainees, HRW said in a press release.