Pakistani who tried to shoot US captors jailed for 86 years

Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison yesterday by a US judge for shooting at her American interrogators.

Siddiqui, 38, was convicted by in February of grabbing a US warrant officer's rifle while detained for questioning in Afghanistan's Ghazni province and firing at FBI agents and military personnel as she was wrestled to the ground.

Her conviction by a US jury was widely criticised in Pakistan, where Siddiqui has been lionised as an innocent person being persecuted by Americans.

"Don't get angry," Siddiqui said in court to her supporters after sentencing. "Forgive Judge Berman."

Judge Richard M Berman of Manhattan District Court responded, saying: "I wish more defendants would feel the way that you do."

The sentencing capped a strange legal odyssey that began two years ago, when Siddiqui turned up in Afghanistan carrying threatening notes. One referred to "a mass casualty attack… NY City monuments: Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge," and another mused how a dirty bomb would spread more fear than death

During a rambling statement to the court on Thursday, Siddiqui said: "I do not want any bloodshed. I do not want any misunderstanding. I really want to make peace and end the wars."

Siddiqui said she was particularly upset by overseas reports that she was being tortured. She said she was being treated well.