ISLAMABAD: The US embassy in Islamabad on Wednesday denied reports of a prisoner swap deal with Pakistan involving Dr Aafia Siddiqui.
Earlier this month, Pakistani media reported that the US had offered Pakistan to sign a prisoner exchange agreement, calling for a release of Pakistani prisoner Dr Shakil Afridi in exchange for the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui.No, the United States government is not in discussions with the Government of Pakistan on a prisoner exchange or transfer involving Dr. Aafia Siddiqi, said Meghan Gregonis, a spokesman for the US embassy.
On September 23, 2010 Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani imprisoned in the US, was sentenced by a US court to 86 years for having attempted to kill American soldiers. She is currently being held in a maximum-security prison in Texas.
The Government of Pakistan requested her transfer to Pakistan in 2010, said the embassy spokesman.
However, we are not aware of a recent request from Pakistan to discuss her case, nor the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi,he added. The United States and Pakistan do not have and are not negotiating a bilateral prisoner exchange agreement.
Afridi, a Pakistani doctor, aided the CIA in tracking down former Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by running a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad.
He was sentenced for committing treason and is currently being held at a prison in Peshawar.
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