Pak terror suspect Aafia rejects charges, says she is being falsely framed

NEW YORK - Detained Pakistani neuroscientist Dr.Aafia Siddiqui has rejected charges against her, saying she is being framed in a false case.

Speaking during her trial in Manhattan federal court, Siddiqui vehemently denied firing at US officials in Afghanistan, and said it was ‘joke’, as she has never touched a gun in her life.

During the trial, Siddiqui, the alleged Al-Qaeda terror suspect, was asked whether she ever picked up an unattended M-4 rifle and fired it at FBI agents and military personnel.

“It is the biggest joke. I have sometimes been forced to smile under my scarf. Of course not,” Siddiqui replied.

“I’m telling you what I know: I walked toward the curtain and then I was shot. My head does not believe that American soldiers would be so irresponsible to leave a gun around,” she added.

She also denied taking pistol lessons at the Braintree Pistol and Rifle Course in Braintree, Massachusetts, while she was a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The News reports.

It is pertinent to mention here that defence counsels had sent a letter to Judge Richard Berman requesting him not to let Siddiqui, charged for firing at American investigators in Afghanistan, to testify on her own because of her “severe mental illness”.

However, the federal agents had argued that Siddiqui is in perfect mental health to represent her case in the court of law.

They also claimed that there is absolutely no basis to preclude her from taking the stand in her own defence. (ANI)