Release of Aafia Siddiqui, 'Lady al-Qaeda', common demand of Islamist hostage-takers
Release of Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui is a common demand of Islamist hostage-takers as her supporters suspect a plot in her arrest
From Algeria to Iraq to Yemen, one name crops up again and again in the demands of Islamist hostage-takers - Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani scientist now in prison in the United States for attacking American soldiers in Afghanistan.
Militant groups from al-Qaeda and its offshoots to the Islamic State (IS) have sought the 42-year-old's release in exchange for captives, most recently the US journalist James Foley, who was beheaded by IS in August.
In an interview, Siddiqui's family protested her innocence and despaired at the horrors associated with her name.
Siddiqui's story, one of the most intriguing of the "war on terror", began in March 2003 when al-Qaeda number three and alleged 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested in Karachi.
Mohammed was handed to the Americans and transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where he was repeatedly waterboarded and "rectally rehydrated" as part of interrogations, according to a Senate report on CIA torture.
Soon after his arrest, Siddiqui - suspected by the US of al-Qaeda links - disappeared along with her three children in Karachi.