Married to al-Qaeda

Amelia O'Leary takes you on an intimate adventure into Pakistan and beyond, where she unknowingly married into a terrorist family. Her husband's brother is the notorious orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Amer Aziz, who was arrested in October 2002 on charges that included formulating chemical and biological weapons, and meeting on the sly with Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zahwahiri, and other top al-Qaeda players. Imran had been introduced to Amelia at Arizona State University when they were both young students. Although she was broken-hearted when he completed his degree and blindly went back home to Pakistan, they kept in touch throughout the years and were finally married in July 2001. After the two tied the knot, she began to see a polar change in his personality where he went from being a very loving, western-educated, self-proclaimed agnostic, to a hardened, radical Islamic fundamentalist with a dark, murderous heart. Things started to unravel after she discovered she was a second wife and not Imran's one and only. Her new mother-in-law was a drab, emotionless being, who was instrumental in directing Imran, Amer and others into joining the worlds terrorist syndicate. Amelia was not aware that her husband was affilated with al-Qaeda and grew suspicious when the international criminal, Mullah Omar showed up for lunch one day at the Aziz family compound. He was wanted by the FBI and there was a bounty on his head. After Dr. Amer Aziz was finally taken into police custody, the family began to turn on Amelia; she was an American and was not to be trusted. Imran was becoming aloof and did not defend her, thanks to influence from Ami Gee. Amelia found herself unable to leave the country with her young son, Aedan. Imran and Ami Gee then secretly visited Amer in prison one day after the authorities took an afternoon hiatus to the Islamabad Marriot Hotel for a lunch party. Still...no escape for her. While living in the conservative, constrained Islamic society of Pakistan, Amelia experiences and exposes the nescience of old-world culture: Pakistan has not progressed much since the 7th century. As a female, she found herslef alone, with absolutely no human rights. Servants were treated like slaves and were grossly taken advantage of. Also, their rights greatly ignored. Pakistan was a culture of misplaced loyalties - a land of extreme and harsh punishments for trivial violations and an indifference to human and animal rights. The poor of Pakistan are largely neglected. As things escalated, Imran tried to murder her, but failed. He then forcefully took her into Afghanistan where he attempted to sell her to a Taliban leader. The family had ambushed her, taking her son away, leaving him without any loving guidance or protection, to fend for himself at the tender age of 4. She was thrown out of the family home without her son, as he was locked away far out of her reach. With her evil mother-in-law in the lead, they filed false charges in the corrupt Lahore courts to have her locked up in a Pakistan prison for life. She describes her harrowing escape out of the country, where there is still a warrant for her arrest on unmerrited grounds. She describes Islam as it is practiced in Pakistan and in other places. Being one of the few westerners who has experienced the terror of Islamic rule in an authentic, intimate way, she survived through sheer determination.