The United States has formally charged Dr Aafia Siddiqui on Tuesday Jan 19 with trying to kill a group of American soldiers and FBI agents at an Afghan police compound in July 2008.
She faces a seven-count indictment that includes charges of attempted murder, armed assault on US officers and employees and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. She faces up to 20 years in prison on the attempted murder charges and life in prison on the firearms charge.
Assistant US Attorney Jenna M. Dabbs told a District Court in Manhattan, New York that Aafia (37) took a soldier’s M-4 assault rifle, which he had placed on the floor of a second-floor office at the Afghan police compound, burst from behind a curtain in the office, and attempted to shoot the assembled agents and soldiers.
However, Charles D. Swift, Dr Aafia’s lawyer, refuted the charge. He claimed that there was no evidence that his client had ever touched or fired the M-4 rifle.
The prosecutor stuck to her ground. This is a straightforward case, she said and added, ‘the defendant saw an opportunity and she acted on it. The defendant picked up that assault rifle, saw agents and soldiers and tried to kill them’.
Jenna Dabbs told jurors that Aafia Siddiqui was taken into custody by Afghan police in July because she was carrying containers of unidentified chemicals and notes referring to mass-casualty attacks and New York landmarks such as the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge.
