US denies reports of Osama doc-Siddiqui prisoners exchange agreement

The US Embassy in Islamabad has denied reports of a prisoner swap deal with Pakistan involving neuroscientist Dr Aafia Siddiqui.

Earlier this month, Pakistani media reported that the US had offered Pakistan to sign a prisoner exchange agreement.

The agreement called for release of Pakistani prisoner Dr Shakil Afridi in exchange for the release of Dr Siddiqui.

According to Dawn News, Meghan Gregonis, a spokesman for the US embassy, said the United States government is not in discussions with the Government of Pakistan on a prisoner exchange or transfer involving Siddiqui.

On September 23, 2010 Siddiqui, a Pakistani imprisoned in the US, was sentenced by a US court to 86 years for having attempted to kill American soldiers. She is currently being held in a maximum-security prison in Texas, the report said.

The embassy spokesman said that Pakistan had requested her transfer back to the country in 2010.

He added that they were not aware of a recent request from Pakistan to discuss her case, nor the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi.

Afridi, a Pakistani doctor, aided the CIA in tracking down former Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by running a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad, the report said.

He was sentenced for committing treason and is currently being held at a prison in Peshawar, it added.