Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui was convicted Wednesday of attempting to kill Americans in Afghanistan in 2008.
The jury found Siddiqui guilty of seven counts, including attempted murder and armed assault on U.S. officers.
The
Manhattan jury began deliberations Monday afternoon and sent a note
shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday saying they had reached a verdict.
Siddiqui listened to the verdict without emotion but let out an outburst once the jury was escorted out of the courtroom.
"This
is a verdict from Israel, not America," she said. "Anger should be
directed to where it belongs. I can testify to this. I have proof."
Authorities removed her from the courtroom. She will be sentenced May 6.
Siddiqui's family said she had been unjustly found guilty.
"Today's
verdict is one of many legal errors that allowed the prosecution to
build a case against our sister based on hate, rather than fact," they
said in a statement released through the International Justice Network.
"We believe that as a result, she was denied a fair trial, and today's verdict must be overturned on appeal."
Prosecutors
said Siddiqui shot at two FBI special agents, a U.S. Army warrant
officer, an Army captain and military interpreters while she was being
held unsecured at an Afghan facility on July 18, 2008.
Authorities
said Siddiqui used an officer's rifle to fire two shots at the
personnel, who were hidden from her view by a curtain. She hit no one.
The warrant officer returned fire with a pistol, hitting Siddiqui at
least once.
Afghan police had arrested her a day earlier outside
the Ghazni governor's compound in central Afghanistan after finding her
with bomb-making instructions, excerpts from the "Anarchist's Arsenal,"
papers with descriptions of U.S. landmarks, and substances sealed in
bottles and glass jars, according to a September 2008 indictment.
The
indictment said Siddiqui had "handwritten notes that referred to a
'mass casualty attack' " listing several locations in the United States
and "construction of 'dirty bombs.' "
The notes also "discussed
various ways to attack 'enemies,' including by destroying
reconnaissance drones, using underwater bombs, and using gliders," the
indictment said.
"Siddiqui also possessed a computer thumb drive
that contained correspondence referring to specific 'cells,' 'attacks'
by certain 'cells,' and 'enemies,' " the indictment said. "Other
documents on the thumb drive discussed recruitment and training."
Siddiqui,
whom the FBI had sought for several years for suspected ties to al
Qaeda, was extradited to the United States in August 2008.
Since 2003, the whereabouts of Siddiqui, an American-educated neuroscientist, had been the source of much speculation.
According to Amnesty International, Siddiqui and her three small children were reported apprehended in Karachi, Pakistan, in March 2003, shortly after the FBI issued an alert requesting information about her location.
Several
reports indicated that Siddiqui was in U.S. custody after her arrest in
Karachi. But in May 2004, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI
Director Robert Mueller identified Siddiqui as being among several
sought-after al Qaeda members.