Afghanistan frees son of alleged ally of Al Qaeda

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — Afghanistan freed a 12-year-old boy and sent him to his family in Pakistan, two months after it says he was detained with his mother, who is suspected of links to Al Qaeda and faces charges in New York.

Officials say the boy, Ali Hassan, and his mother, Aafia Siddiqui, were detained outside the governor’s house in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province in July. The American-educated Pakistani woman was then handed over to U.S. custody and flown to New York.

A U.S. indictment alleges that during Siddiqui’s interrogation in Ghazni, she picked up a rifle and fired at U.S. soldiers and FBI agents.

A spokesman for Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, Sultan Ahmed Baheen, said Ali was a dual American-Pakistani citizen because he was born in the United States.