- BY DANIEL EDWARD ROSEN Special to Newsday
The Pakistani woman accused of trying to kill an American soldier failed to again show up for a court appearance yesterday, which led a federal judge to demand that she receive immediate psychological evaluation.
Aafia Siddiqui, 36, was described by her attorney, Elizabeth M. Fink, as “a person who is in torment, who is in her cell hysterically sobbing,” and thus unable to attend federal court in Manhattan.
“She’s not competent, judge,” Fink said yesterday.
Judge Richard M. Berman disagreed. “It’s my finding that she has refused to appear in court today voluntarily and knowingly,” he said, entering a not guilty plea on her behalf.
Fink emphatically requested that her client be transferred to Elmhurst Hospital Center in the Bronx, noting its multiethnic staff and Pakistani psychiatrists.
Siddiqui is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. According to reports from prison officials Berman read in court, Siddiqui had refused all medical and psychological exams, including those with female physicians. Fink earlier said exams by male doctors conflicted with the modesty demanded by her religion.
Siddiqui was originally arrested in Afghanistan on July 17 and brought to the United States to stand trial on attempted murder and other charges.
When she was arrested, she had documents indicating plans to attack various New York area landmarks, officials said.
