The U.S. State Department has chosen not to comment on the situation of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist who is currently serving an 86-year prison sentence in the U.S. on terrorism charges.
During a recent press briefing, Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel redirected questions to the Department of Justice, making it clear that he wouldn’t discuss private diplomatic communications. “I certainly wouldn’t get into private diplomatic communications,” he stated.
This comes after reports indicated that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif requested Dr. Siddiqui’s release on humanitarian grounds in a letter addressed to President Joe Biden. This letter was submitted to the Islamabad High Court as part of the efforts to facilitate her extradition.
