Pak scientist to plead not guilty of murder charges

NEW YORK: Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, suspected of having links with al-Qaeda, would plead innocent to the charges of attempted murder of US personnel during interrogation in Afghanistan in July, her lawyer said.
    
Siddiqui, 36, was indicted Tuesday but terrorism charges have not been brought against her. She is currently being held without bail in high security prison in Brooklyn in New York.
    
She was arrested in Ghazni province of Afghanistan in July this year while loitering around the Governor's compound and held for questioning by army officers and FBI agents. But she allegedly snatched an army officer's M-4 rifle and fired it at other members of the US interview team.
    
Lawyer Elizabeth Fink, who said her client would plead not guilty to the charges on Thursday while appearing in the court, also expressed concern that Siddiqui remained in need of medical attention.
    
"She needs further tests," Fink was quoted as saying in The New York Times. "She needs treatment. She needs care. She needs human rights. And they're not doing it."
    
Last week, Fink had expressed her outrage that Siddiqui was denied a court-ordered medical examination despite her life-threatening condition.
    
"Her condition has significantly deteriorated since August four when she was brought to New York. She should be transferred to Bellevue hospital for urgent medical and psychological treatment," the lawyer added.
    
Siddiqui's lawyers have maintained they believe she had been secretly detained since March 2003, when she left her parents' home in Karachi to visit her uncle in Islamabad.