Pakistani scientist ruled fit to stand trial in US
(AFP) – 1 day ago

NEW YORK — A US-educated Pakistani scientist who allegedly tried to shoot US officers in Afghanistan last year will stand trial October 19, a US judge has ordered.

Ending months of examinations into the mental state of Aafia Siddiqui, Judge Richard Berman, in the US District Court in Manhattan, ruled that she was competent to be tried on murder charges.

The written ruling issued on Wednesday followed expert testimony that found Siddiqui, 37, was faking insanity to avoid trial.

She was brought to New York a year ago after allegedly trying to shoot US army and FBI officers while in Afghan custody.

She was also on a 2004 US list of people suspected of links to Al-Qaeda, although not charged.

The case has sparked controversy in Pakistan and among human rights advocates who say Siddiqui was abducted by Pakistani security services in 2003 and may have been held in a secret US or allied prison in Afghanistan until her sudden reappearance in 2008.

Siddiqui is from Pakistan and studied neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University.

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