The lawyer for Aafia Siddiqui, the woman whose case investigators believe this could be a motivating factor for the hostage-taker, urged the suspect on Saturday to release the hostages in a statement.
“We strongly condemn the hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas,” Marwa Elbially said in a statement. “We beg the hostage taker to immediately release all hostages and turn themselves in.”
“We want to verify that the perpetrator is NOT the brother of Dr. Aafia who is a respected architect and community member. Whoever the attacker is, we want him to know that his actions will be condemned by Dr. Aafia and her family ,” added a statement, calling the suspect’s actions “appalling and wrong.”
More about this: Two law enforcement officers previously told DailyExpertNews that the man who took hostages at the Beth Israel Congregation in Colleyville appeared to be motivated by a desire to free Siddiqui.
She is serving an 86-year sentence in a federal prison in Fort Worth after being found guilty of seven charges related to a terror interrogation in Afghanistan. Siddiqui was charged with stealing a US Army soldier’s rifle and shooting at members of the US interrogation team, who were not hit. The judge at her trial in the US ruled that her sentence was a terrorist attack.
Siddiqui’s appeals have been exhausted, according to Elbially, who has petitioned to pardon her client or allow her to serve the remainder of her sentence in her home country of Pakistan. Elbially says she hasn’t been able to speak to Siddiqui since the Texas hostage crisis began.
