The Texas synagogue hostage situation is just the latest example of a long-standing obsession among global jihadist groups with freeing convicted Pakistani terrorist Aafia Siddiqui — a goal shared by the U.S.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.
British citizen Malik Faisal Akram took members of the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue hostage during their livestreamed Saturday services, capturing the rabbi and three others. After an 11-hour standoff between Akram, the police, and the FBI, the hostages escaped, and Akram was killed by law enforcement.
<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1642598664285,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4febcc790000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1642598664285,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4febcc790000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_42435568", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"941890"} }); rn","_id":"0000017e-7282-de39-a1ff-77d37d260000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video Embed
Akram was following a path laid out by terrorist groups such as al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Taliban, which have all sought to use hostages to free the jihadi heroine, a virulent antisemite convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 86 years for attempting to shoot and kill U.S. military members in Afghanistan. When detained in Afghanistan in 2008, she allegedly was in possession of notes referring to a “mass casualty attack” in the United States and a list of New York City landmarks.
For years, global terrorist groups often included the so-called “Lady Al Qaeda” alongside their demands of freedom for Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian Muslim cleric and prominent terrorist leader known as “the blind sheikh,” who was convicted of seditious conspiracy related to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He died in federal prison in 2017.
‘WE’LL GET THROUGH THIS’: RABBI WHO WAS HELD HOSTAGE LEADS PRAYER SERVICE
CAIR condemned the hostage-taking, saying that “this antisemitic attack against a house of worship is unacceptable” and that CAIR and Siddiqui’s family want her freed through “legal and non-violent means only.” The group has put a lot of effort into defending Siddiqui as “wrongly convicted.”
The FBI initially contended that the hostage-taking “was not specifically related to the Jewish community” before reversing and contending that “this is a terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted.”
CAIR’s Dallas Fort-Worth chapter held a rally in September at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort-Worth where Siddiqui is imprisoned, less than a half-hour drive from the synagogue. CAIR-Texas then held a discussion in November advocating for Siddiqui’s release with Linda Sarsour, who stepped down from the Women’s March in 2019 over allegations of antisemitism and her connections to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. CAIR’s national group had a press conference in November in Washington, D.C., calling for Siddiqui’s release.
The Justice Department inspector general noted in a 2013 report that evidence at the 2007 trial of the Holy Land Foundation “linked CAIR leaders to Hamas” and that “CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.”
Al Qaeda-linked militants took hundreds of hostages at a gas facility in Algeria in 2013, reportedly offering to release them in exchange for the freedom of Siddiqui and Rahman. Qassim al Reymi, the now-deceased head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said the U.S. had refused to free Siddiqui and Rahman in 2014 in exchange for U.S. journalist Luke Somers, who was killed during a failed rescue mission.
Ayman al Zawahiri, the former second-in-command for Osama bin Laden who took over al Qaeda after the U.S. killed its founder in 2011, repeatedly called for the release of Siddiqui, including saying in 2011 that they might release kidnapped former USAID employee Warren Weinstein if the U.S. caved into a host of demands which included the release of her, Rahman, and bin Laden’s family, as well as the closure of Guantanamo Bay. Zawahiri repeated this demand in 2012, and in 2013, he listed Siddqiui alongside Rahman and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Siddiqui reportedly married Ammar al Baluchi, KSM’s nephew and an alleged al Qaeda money man, in 2003.
Weinstein was killed in 2015, and al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent’s “Resurgence Magazine” mentioned Weinstein’s death and the Siddiqui release demand in its summer 2015 issue.
Humam Khalil Muhammed Abu Mulal al Balawi, a triple agent who conducted a deadly suicide bombing against the CIA at Camp Chapman in Afghanistan in 2009, recorded a video alongside the now-deceased head of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, where Balawi mentioned Siddiqui in his list of reasons for the attack. Mehsud reportedly went on to threaten attacks against the U.S. and Pakistan in a letter to Siddiqui’s family after her conviction in 2010.
The Taliban captured British aid worker Linda Norgrove in 2010, demanding the release of Siddiqui. Norgrove was killed during a failed rescue mission that year. The Taliban also kidnapped a Swiss couple in 2011 and held them for nearly a year before their apparent escape, demanding $3.3 million, the release of 100 jailed Taliban fighters, and Siddiqui’s freedom.
Two Czech women were kidnapped in Pakistan in 2013, with the kidnappers releasing a forced video of the two hostages calling for the release of Siddiqui. The women were freed in 2015.
ISIS kidnapped American journalist James Foley in 2012 and American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff in 2013, demanding the release of Siddiqui. Both men were beheaded in 2014. Kayla Mueller, a humanitarian aid worker, was kidnapped in 2013, with ISIS asking either for Siddiqui’s freedom or a $5 million Euro ransom. Mueller was killed in 2015, and the U.S. operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was named after her.
George Washington University’s Program on Extremism released a 2018 report suggesting that U.S. citizen Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, a member of the terrorist Nusra Front, had likely been planning an attack on Siddiqui’s prison in 2014 before returning to the U.S. from Syria. He has since been convicted for other crimes.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Siddiqui is also a hero among many in Pakistan. Pakistan’s then-Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani called Siddiqui a “daughter of the nation” in 2010, and current Prime Minister Imran Khan made freeing her part of his 2018 campaign manifesto.
Pakistani officials in 2012 reportedly offered to help free Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from captivity in exchange for the release of Siddiqui. The “Taliban Five” were instead swapped by President Barack Obama for the deserter in 2014.
