NEW YORK (AP) - A Pakistani scientist serving an 86-year prison sentence for shooting at U.S. soldiers is seeking to have her conviction overturned on the grounds that she did not have proper legal representation.
Aafia Siddiqui (ah-FEE’-uh sih-DEE’-kee) said in court papers filed Monday in federal court in New York City that her 2010 guilty verdict should be vacated. She says a judge forced her to accept three lawyers paid for by the Pakistani government.
The 42-year-old Siddiqui has a doctorate in neuroscience from Brandeis University in Massachusetts.
Siddiqui was branded a terrorism suspect after she left the U.S. and married a nephew of self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (HAH’-leed shayk moh-HAH’-mehd).
She was wounded during a confrontation with U.S. authorities who interrogated her in Afghanistan in 2008. Witnesses say she shot at the Americans.
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