Pakistani scientist calls attempted murder charges 'crazy'

A U.S.-trained Pakistani scientist being tried on charges she tried to kill Americans while she was detained in Afghanistan in 2008 told a jury Thursday that she never picked up a gun and fired at them.

"This is crazy," Aafia Siddiqui testified when cross-examined about the accusations at her federal trial in Manhattan. "It's just ridiculous. . . . I never attempted murder, no way."

In animated and sometimes combative testimony, the 37-year-old Siddiqui claimed she was shot by two men while trying to escape.

"Somebody saw me and said something, a guy standing at the opposite end of the room saw me and shot me. And then another came from here and shot me. And then I just passed out," she said.

She told jurors her case is an example of how authorities "frame people."

Siddiqui, who keeps her face veiled behind a white scarf, is on trial on attempted murder charges and has been prone to courtroom outbursts.

She took the stand over the objections of her defense attorneys, who said her "diminished capacity" would turn her testimony into a "painful spectacle."

The attorneys last year lost a pretrial bid to have her declared incompetent to stand trial.

U.S. authorities said Siddiqui picked up an unattended U.S. military assault rifle at an Afghanistan police station July 18, 2008, and fired two rounds at FBI agents and U.S. Army soldiers. She missed and was wounded by return fire.

Prosecutors say the shooting occurred as Siddiqui was about to be questioned a day after she was caught by Afghan police outside a governor's building. At the time of her arrest, she was carrying instructions for a dirty bomb.