In part two of our interview with Steve Downs, executive director of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms, he details his work on one of the most baffling cases in the so-called war on terror, the story of Aafia Siddiqui. In Pakistan, she is considered a political prisoner, but in the United States she is known as "Lady al Qaeda." She is currently incarcerated at a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is serving 86 years behind bars. Her lawyers say she hasn't spoken with anyone for over a year. In 2010, the American-educated Pakistani neuroscientist was convicted of attempted murder for shooting at U.S. soldiers and FBI agents while being questioned in Afghanistan in 2008. Prior to this incident, Siddiqui said she was held and tortured in secret U.S. prisons over a five-year period. Her U.S-based lawyers recently visited Pakistan where they met with her sister, Dr. Fowzia (Siddiqui), and discussed efforts to repatriate her. Downs also works with Project SALAM, which published a report last year called "Inventing Terrorists: The Lawfare of Preemptive Prosecution."
Watch Part 1 of our interview with Downs, in which he also discusses the new film "(T)ERROR."