Pakistan's Gray Lady of al Qaeda skips court date

Aafia Siddiqui's attorney "thinks" she wanted to avoid being "strip searched".

WTF?

A Pakistani woman believed to have close ties to Al Qaeda who was captured with a list of potential U.S. landmarks for a “mass casualty attack” skipped court Thursday, apparently to avoid being strip-searched, FOX News has learned.

But (Aafia) Siddiqui's defense attorney Elizabeth Fink said she thinks her client didn't show up for the hearing because she didn't want to undergo the strip-search required when a suspect leaves jail.

The Pakistan Daily News gives us more detail and shows how her lawyer is playing the victim card to the hilt...

Her lawyer, Elizabeth Fink, gave Judge Richard M Breman of the US district court for the southern district of New York, a harrowing description of her client’s physical and mental condition, while urging that Siddiqui be immediately shifted to a hospital. She said her present condition was not such as to make her competent to stand trial. She said her client had spent years in confinement and she was deeply worried about her three children. (All lies.)

Strip search: Fink gave the court a chilling description of the strip searches that Siddiqui is being made to endure every time she is visited, even by her lawyer. She refused to appear in court because she did not want to be subjected to the torture and humiliation of another strip search. Fink explained in graphic detail what a strip search involved. She said her client was made to take off all her clothes and stand with her legs apart. She was subjected to an anal examination and ordered to bend over and cough to ensure that she was not hiding anything. Fink said Siddiqui not only needed to be immediately hospitalised but she needed a gynaecologist and she required a psychiatric evaluation. The judge does not have the power to stop the strip search because it is part of prison regulations.

Boo-hoo-hoo. Let me call these guys a waaahmbulance to drive them all out to the airport for the next flight back to their country of origin. That'll give them something to be shocked about.

The Pakistani-Americans present at the hearing, including Pakistan Consulate officials, were shocked at the description provided by Siddiqui’s lawyer and told journalists that they felt utterly disgusted and angered by what they had heard.

Hey Elizabeth - NEWS FLASH - you truly are a fink!

Your client is a psychopathic killer who tried to kill US Army personnel the last time she was brought into a room without being strip searched. So tell your little al Qaeda crony to grin and bare/bear it. (Come to think of it, I believe the judge should order you to be strip searched as well!!! Spread 'em, princess.)


The story's a little different in Newsday where it sounds like the Gray Lady is getting special treatment...and that her attorney is getting ready to play the mentally ill card, too.

The attorney for Aafia Siddiqui, 36, said her client, who is suffering from a gunshot wound, isn't well enough to come to court. Elizabeth M. Fink asked that Siddiqui be arraigned at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she is being housed, and hospitalized.

"She's a mess, judge, and she has to be rehabilitated," said Fink, who asked that Siddiqui be transferred to Bellevue Hospital Center.

U.S. Attorney David Raskin responded, "This defendant is getting more [medical] attention than anyone I've ever seen."

In court, U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Berman expressed concern about whether Siddiqui was mentally competent enough to stand trial. He added that Siddiqui has declined psychiatric evaluation and refuses to be strip-searched by Federal Bureau of Prisons staff, citing her wounds. Berman said he would prefer to see Siddiqui in court for her arraignment, be it in person or through a video conference. Siddiqui's next court date is scheduled for Sept. 23.

Outside the courthouse, about 20 supporters of Siddiqui expressed anger over her treatment.

(Ed. Note: All twenty of them should be all shipped back to their country of origin or Muslim country of choice ASAP.)

The defense has also submitted a brief asking that Siddiqui be transferred to a “less restrictive setting where she would not be subjected to strip searches and where she could receive more extensive care.” Judge Berman set a deadline of Friday, Sept. 12 for the defense to brief this issue, Wednesday Sept. 17 for the prosecution. Fink continues to promulgate lies about Siddiqui's whereabouts by citing reports by unnamed sources as told to her by the "Washington Post".

Related posts can be found here.