Indictment Claims Scientist's Notes Hinted of U.S. Attack
A Pakistani neuroscientist being held without bail in Brooklyn, N.Y., had documents suggesting possible plans for a U.S. attack when she was arrested in Afghanistan, according to an indictment announced yesterday.
The U.S.-trained scientist, Aafia Siddiqui, was charged with trying to kill U.S. soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan, the New York Times reports. But an indictment announced yesterday said she had notes referring to a “mass casualty attack” and listing New York landmarks including the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge and a federal animal disease center.
Siddiqui is married to the nephew of accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, authorities have said, the Los Angeles Times reports.
She has not been charged with plotting any attacks on the U.S. locations. Siddiqui reportedly aroused suspicions when she was found loitering outside an Afghan police station, the Times story says. Authorities say she picked up an unsecured rifle after she was taken into custody and fired at least two shots at a U.S. team ready to question her. A soldier returned the fire, and a bullet hit Siddiqui in the torso.
Her lawyer, Elizabeth Fink, said her client needs additional medical attention.
Siddiqui lived in the United States from about 1991 until June 2002, and obtained degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University, according to a press release issued by the Manhattan U.S. attorney. Fink says her client was set up and that the indictment’s claims are “totally ludicrous,” the Washington Post reports.
The Post story says Siddiqui disappeared outside her parents’ home in Pakistan in 2003. Activists contend she was secretly detained by the United States.
