Pakistani interrupts NY hearing, says not psychotic
NEW YORK, July 6 (Reuters) - A Pakistani woman charged with trying to kill American interrogators in Afghanistan made several outbursts at a hearing held on Monday to determine if she is mentally fit to stand trial.
Aafia Siddiqui, 37, who the U.S. government says has suspected links to al Qaeda, interrupted the hearing where psychiatrists and mental health experts gave differing opinions on her mental state.
"Please take me seriously, I am not psychotic," Siddiqui said in interrupting a doctor's testimony. At various times she spoke loudly and gestured to those around her while several doctors were questioned.
"I did not shoot anybody and I am really not against America," she said before adding "the wars are a misunderstanding" and that America "has been framed."
Prosecutors say Siddiqui, a U.S.-trained neuroscientist, grabbed a U.S. warrant officer's rifle while she was detained for questioning in Afghanistan and fired it at the interrogation team, which included two FBI agents. The warrant officer then shot her with his pistol.
During the hearing Thomas Kucharski, a psychologist called by Siddiqui's defense lawyers, said she was suffering from delusions, including that the judge and her own lawyer were part of a conspiracy out to get her and that people had tried to poison her at a medical facility in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is being held.
But psychiatrist Sally Johnson, called by prosecutors, said she believed any delusions were part of deliberate manipulative behavior designed to make herself look fragile and mentally ill. (Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Michelle Nichols and Vicki Allen)
Aafia Siddiqui, 37, who the U.S. government says has suspected links to al Qaeda, interrupted the hearing where psychiatrists and mental health experts gave differing opinions on her mental state.
"Please take me seriously, I am not psychotic," Siddiqui said in interrupting a doctor's testimony. At various times she spoke loudly and gestured to those around her while several doctors were questioned.
"I did not shoot anybody and I am really not against America," she said before adding "the wars are a misunderstanding" and that America "has been framed."
Prosecutors say Siddiqui, a U.S.-trained neuroscientist, grabbed a U.S. warrant officer's rifle while she was detained for questioning in Afghanistan and fired it at the interrogation team, which included two FBI agents. The warrant officer then shot her with his pistol.
During the hearing Thomas Kucharski, a psychologist called by Siddiqui's defense lawyers, said she was suffering from delusions, including that the judge and her own lawyer were part of a conspiracy out to get her and that people had tried to poison her at a medical facility in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is being held.
But psychiatrist Sally Johnson, called by prosecutors, said she believed any delusions were part of deliberate manipulative behavior designed to make herself look fragile and mentally ill. (Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Michelle Nichols and Vicki Allen)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Pelosi says health bill will pass.