[ADN Kronos] A United States trained Pakistani scientist accused of links to Al-Qaeda and shooting at FBI agents may be forced to appear in a New York court on Monday. Aafia Siddiqui may have to appear by video or in person in federal court in Manhattan at a hearing to decide if she is competent to stand trial, defence attorney Dawn Cardi said.Siddiqui was believed to have been captured in Afghanistan and held at the US military base at Bagram, outside Kabul, before being transferred to the United States to stand trial. In August 2008, Siddiqui was charged in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York with assaulting and attempting to kill US personnel while in detention in Afghanistan. Siddiqui has reported seeing her children in her prison cell and has claimed she was strip-searched.
Prosecutors have accused Siddiqui of having ties to Al-Qaeda and that she grabbed a US army officer's M-4 rifle in Afghanistan, pointed it at an army captain and cried 'Allahu Akbar,' or 'God is great.' They said she fired at US soldiers and FBI agents before she was shot and wounded by an army officer.
A defence attorney has disputed that account and said the US government's claims were wrong.
Siddiqui, a specialist in neuroscience who trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University, appeared in court twice after she was brought to the US last August but has refused to attend proceedings since that time. She's charged with attempted murder and assault.
US District Judge Richard Berman entered a not guilty plea for her. But the judge signed an order several days ago permitting authorities to take her to court against her will, Cardi said. "Her choice is not to come," Cardi said. "I don't want her traumatised any more than she has to be, being strip-searched and all."
Mental health professionals who have evaluated Siddiqui over the last year will be questioned by lawyers on both sides during the competency hearing. A trial is set for October 19.
Aafia Siddiqui refused to appear in a New York court on 4 September 2008, to protest against the humiliating treatment which she claims to have suffered and because of her physical, mental and emotional condition.