U.S. urged to free female al Qaeda suspect

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Parliamentarians from Pakistan Wednesday met a Pakistani woman detained in the United States on charges of trying to kill U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan and called for her release.

Aafia Siddiqui, 36, a U.S.-trained neuroscientist suspected of having links to al Qaeda was shot in the abdomen by an officer after allegedly grabbing a U.S. soldier's gun during questioning in July and was brought to the United States on charges of attempted murder and assault.

A five-member delegation of Pakistani parliamentarians met Siddiqui for three hours at a medical facility in a military prison compound at Fort Worth near Dallas, Texas.

"She seemed calm and composed, and her mind was active and alert," Mushahid Hussain Syed, head of the Pakistani delegation, told Reuters by telephone from Dallas.

He said Siddiqui told them she had no faith in the U.S. courts hearing her case.

"I have been through living hell," he quoted her as saying."

"We feel she should be unconditionally released and repatriated to Pakistan," he said. "This would be a good gesture by the United States and would go a long way to improve relations between the people of Pakistan and the United States."

A U.S. judge entered a plea of innocent last month on behalf of Siddiqui who prosecutors say may be unfit to face charges of trying to kill U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan.

Siddiqui's September 4 arraignment at Manhattan federal court was delayed after Siddiqui, a practicing Muslim, refused to submit to a strip search, a security procedure requiring inmates to undress and squat in front of guards.

In a letter to the judge, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia has said that there was reason to believe Siddiqui, who has refused to cooperate with prison doctors, is suffering from a mental disease and is unfit to stand trial.

Siddiqui's lawyer, Elizabeth Fink had asked the judge 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.

Human rights groups had declared 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 U.S. authorities.

U.S. 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.

In 2004, the FBI called Siddiqui an "al Qaeda operative and facilitator who posed a clear and present danger to America." U.S. intelligence says she was married to a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who helped plan the September 11 attacks.

(Reporting by Sheree Sardar, writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)