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According to media reports, these revelations were "outbursts." On January 25, New York Times writer CJ Hughes reported numerous "disruptions....plagu(ing) the trial. Monday (January 25) was hardly an exception. The defendant was ejected from (court) - not once, but twice (for) loudly proclaiming her innocence." On January 19, she "had several outbursts in previous court appearances, raising questions about her competency to stand trial."
On February 4, AP writer Tom Hays said "True to form, Aafia Siddiqui did not go quietly," called her comments "combative," then claimed the prosecution presented "compelling testimony."
On February 5, the Islamophobic frontpagemag.com headlined "How a 'Nice American Girl' Became a Jihadist," saying "veiled Muslim women can be very aggressive, murderously so."
On February 3, the New York Daily News headlined, "Lady Al Qaeda Aafia Siddiqui convicted of attempted murder." Writer Alison Gendar accepted DOJ's charges as fact and added some of her own, saying:
"She grabbed a rifle at an 'Afghan police station' (she was at Bagram) and started shooting at the Americans sent to grill her. She was shot by the soldier whose weapon she swiped. (In 2008, she was) caught in 'Afghanistan' with '2 pounds of poisonous chemicals.' (During the trial), she disrupted the proceedings several times with 'strange outbursts.' "
An August 22, 2008 Fox News report said "emails obtained by FOXNews.com show messages sent by Siddiqui (during her time at MIT) soliciting money for Al-Kifah Refugee Center - a known Al Queda charitable front tied to Usama bin Laden and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing."
After a three week trial and two days of deliberation, a federal jury of eight women and four men convicted her on all charges, including attempted murder, armed assault, discharging a firearm during a violent crime, and assaulting US officers and employees. As a result, she potentially faces life in prison at her May 6 sentencing. It's not confirmed, but her lawyers may appeal given the bogus charges, long detention, and brutalizing torture, leaving her a shell of her former self, so physically and emotionally shattered she was in no condition to stand trial.
After the verdict, aljazeera.net headlined "US verdict sparks Pakistan protests," saying thousands in several cities rallied in her defense. Her relatives spoke publicly condemning the decision, her sister Fauzia saying "we're proud to be related to her. America's justice system, the establishment, the war on terror, the fraud of the war on terror, all of those things have shown their own ugly faces."
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