{"id":100490,"date":"2026-02-11T13:19:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T08:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/?p=100490"},"modified":"2026-02-11T13:19:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T08:19:20","slug":"federal-court-halts-contempt-proceedings-against-pm-in-dr-aafia-siddiqui-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/news\/federal-court-halts-contempt-proceedings-against-pm-in-dr-aafia-siddiqui-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Court Halts Contempt Proceedings Against PM in Dr Aafia Siddiqui Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Federal court halts contempt proceedings<\/strong> against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and members of the federal cabinet in connection with the long-running Dr Aafia Siddiqui case. The decision came on Wednesday as the court reviewed the government\u2019s appeal challenging earlier orders issued by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).<\/p>\n

A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan heard the matter. During the hearing, the court stopped the IHC from moving forward with contempt action and issued notices to all relevant parties. Meanwhile, proceedings in the related petition filed by Dr Fauzia Siddiqui were adjourned until a later date.<\/p>\n

Earlier, on July 21, the IHC had initiated contempt proceedings against the prime minister and his cabinet. The court had questioned why the government failed to explain its position on assisting a United States court handling Dr Aafia\u2019s legal matters. It had also sought clarification on the government\u2019s role in supporting efforts for her release.<\/p>\n

However, the federal government argued that changes proposed in the petition could go beyond judicial authority. Officials maintained that reopening a case already decided would conflict with established legal principles. Therefore, they requested the court to declare the previous order invalid and allow amendments to their appeal.<\/p>\n

Government representatives further stated that the case involves sensitive foreign policy considerations as well as international law. They noted that authorities had taken diplomatic steps in the past. In October 2024, the prime minister reportedly wrote to the US president seeking clemency for Dr Aafia. Additionally, a senior delegation travelled to the United States to explore a possible prisoner transfer agreement. Yet, US officials did not approve such arrangements.<\/p>\n

Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist, is currently serving an 86-year sentence in the United States after being convicted of attempted murder. She has spent about 16 years in prison and has remained separated from her children for more than twenty years.<\/p>\n

Reports indicate she was detained in Karachi in 2003 while travelling with her three children and later disappeared for several years. It later emerged that she had been held in Afghanistan before being transferred to US custody in 2008. Two of her children were released in separate years, while the whereabouts of her son Sulaiman remain unknown.<\/p>\n

With the Federal court halts contempt proceedings<\/strong> order now in place, the case is expected to continue through the appeals process as courts examine the government\u2019s legal arguments and responsibilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Federal court halts contempt proceedings against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and members of the federal cabinet in connection with the long-running Dr Aafia Siddiqui case. The decision came on Wednesday as the court reviewed the government\u2019s appeal challenging earlier orders issued by the Islamabad High Court (IHC). A three-member bench led by Chief Justice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":100492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1203,35239,35237,35242,35238,35243,35241,35240],"class_list":["post-100490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-islamabad-high-court","tag-contempt-proceedings-pm","tag-dr-aafia-siddiqui-case","tag-fauzia-siddiqui-case","tag-federal-court-pakistan","tag-government-appeal-pakistan","tag-pakistan-judiciary","tag-shehbaz-sharif-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100493,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100490\/revisions\/100493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}