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The 38-year-old MIT-educated Aafia Siddiqui's case had attracted wide attention, particularly in Pakistan, where she was widely portrayed as a heroine.
Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan, has been sentenced to 86 years in prison by a court in Manhattan amid high drama.
The 38-year-old MIT-educated Siddiqui's case had attracted wide attention, particularly in Pakistan, where she was widely portrayed as a heroine.
The judge at the Federal district court in Manhattan Richard M Berman said "significant incarceration" was called for, as he expressed concern about the likelihood of recidivism and difficulty of rehabilitation for the defendant.
Siddiqui's lawyers had requested a sentence of 12 years while federal prosecutors had pressed for life imprisonment, New York Times reported.
An indictment had charged that when Siddiqui, a mother of three, was arrested in 2008, she was carrying instructions on making explosives and a list of New York landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Building.
But it was her assault on a team of American officers and FBI agents who went to question her after her arrest that led to her conviction in February on charges that included attempting to kill American officers and employees with an M-4 rifle of a US soldier. She had been taken into custody in Ghazni, Afghanistan.
Siddiqui, who has degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University, had punctuated her trial with numerous outbursts, resulting in ejections from the courtroom.
At her sentencing, she rolled her eyes and made dismissive motions when one of her lawyers argued on her behalf. Her legal team, with which she has not cooperated, has maintained she was mentally ill, but prosecutors and the judge — and Siddiqui — disagreed. In long and rambling statements yesterday, Siddiqui, whose head was covered with a scarf, denied suffering from mental illness and said that she forgave the soldier who had shot her, and the judge.
"I am a Muslim, but I do love America, too," she said. "I do not want any bloodshed," she added. "I really want to make peace and end the wars."
Her lawyer, Dawn M Cardi, argued that the attack was not premeditated, and that Siddiqui was trying to escape from custody because she was "petrified and frightened about being tortured, about being sent to Guantanamo."
As the hearing ended, Judge Berman told Siddiqui that she had the right to file an appeal, but she seemed uninterested. "I appeal to God," she said. "And he hears me."
After Siddiqui's sentencing, around 200 activists from Jamaat-e-Islami and various right-wing groups gathered outside her Karachi home and chanted slogans including "Down with America"
Fowzia Siddiqui, her sister, said all of Pakistan would agitate to get her freed.
"I was alone eight years ago when I started the campaign to release my sister, but from now on it will be the Aafia movement as the whole nation is with me," she told reporters.
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