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CORRECTED - Pakistani accused of US troop attack gets doctor

Tue Aug 12, 2008 4:55am IST
 
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(Corrects first name of magistrate judge from Robert to Henry and spelling of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed)

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Pakistani woman suspected of links to al Qaeda and accused of trying to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan was granted access to urgent medical attention by a U.S. judge on Monday.

Aafia Siddiqui, 36, a U.S.-trained neuroscientist from Pakistan, resurfaced last week after being declared missing for five years by human rights groups. She was flown by the United States to New York from Afghanistan and charged with attempting to kill and assault U.S. officers.

A frail-looking Siddiqui appeared in a wheelchair at a hearing held in Manhattan federal court and instead of discussing bail as planned, her lawyers said she was in dire need of medical care.

That was granted by U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman, who ordered she be seen by a physician within 24 hours.

Siddiqui was shot in the abdomen and wounded last month while allegedly trying to fire on a group of U.S. troops who had come to question her in Afghanistan's Ghazni province.

"She is complaining of abdominal pain. She understands she lost part of an intestine," said her lawyer Elaine Sharp, adding Siddiqui had large stitches down her torso from major surgery and may be suffering from internal bleeding.

The lead lawyer on her team, Elizabeth Fink, said: "She has been here, judge, for one week and she has not seen a doctor, even though they (U.S. authorities) know she has been shot."  Continued...

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