US says detained Aafia may be unfit for trial

NEW YORK—A US judge entered a plea of innocent on Tuesday on behalf of under detention Aafia Siddiqui, who prosecutors say may be unfit to federal charges of trying to kill American interrogators in Afghanistan. Ms. Siddiqui, 36, a US-trained Pakistani neuroscientist who was shot in the abdomen by an American agent after allegedly grabbing a US soldier’s gun during questioning in the Afghan town of Ghazni in July, was brought to the United States on charges of attempted murder and assault.
Her September 4 arraignment at New York federal court was delayed after Ms. Siddiqui refused to submit to a strip search, a security procedure requiring inmates to undress and squat in front of guards. At a hearing on Tuesday, US District Judge Richard Berman entered the not guilty plea after finding that Ms. Siddiqui had refused to attend court to enter a plea herself. Siddiqui’s lawyer, Elizabeth Fink, said she did not object.
Berman also ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Siddiqui, and, depending on its findings, set a tentative trial date of March 9. On Monday, in a letter US prosecutor asked Judge Berman to order a psychiatric evaluation of Ms. Siddiqui to determine if she is fit to stand trial. Its findings will be discussed at a December 17 hearing.
Berman, US Attorney Michael Garcia said that there was reason to believe Ms. Siddiqui, who has refused to cooperate with prison doctors, is suffering from a mental disease and is unfit to stand trial. Garcia asked the court to find that “there is a reasonable cause to believe that the defendant may be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering her incompetent to enter a plea or stand trial.”
Fink, Ms. Siddiqui’s lead lawyer, asked that her client be placed in a hospital for medical and psychological care and be treated as someone who may have been the victim of torture. “There is every reason to believe that her mental state is related to five years when she was kept in captivity,” she told Berman.
Human rights groups had declared Ms. Siddiqui missing for five years before the incident in July, when she was arrested outside the governor’s office in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. Her lawyers have said they believe she was secretly detained in Afghanistan’s Bagram air base by US authorities.
US officials say police found documents in her handbag on making explosives, excerpts from the book “Anarchist’s Arsenal” and descriptions of New York City landmarks. Ms. Siddiqui’s lawyers say those documents were planted on her. Prosecutors said Ms. Siddiqui had refused care and that strict security was needed given the serious charges against her.
“She has mental illness,” Ms. Fink said. “She’s psychotic.” But the judge said the extent of her mental difficulties has not been fully analyzed and requires more extensive testing. Berman said she also must receive proper medical care for injuries sustained when she was wounded during the encounter in Afghanistan.
Fink said Ms. Siddiqui did not want to appear in court in part because she was videotaped when she was examined by a doctor on Sept. 9 and she has become convinced the videotape was distributed publicly over the Internet.
Ms. Siddiqui believes she would be ashamed to appear in court because she believed people had seen her naked online, Ms. Fink said. “She’s not rational,” Fink said. The judge said the video will not be released. A prison psychologist has said Siddiqui suffers from severe depression.
Five years after her disappearance, MIT-trained Pakistani neuroscientist, accused of belonging to an Al-Qaeda cell based in Boston, is alive and in custody in Afghanistan, as her family attorney said, “It has been confirmed by the FBI that Aafia Siddiqi is alive. Elaine Whitfield Sharp said that she herself and Aafia’s family were worried about the well being of the held Aafia.

—Agencies