NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Pakistani woman charged with shooting at her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan testified at her trial on Thursday that she was trying to escape because she feared being taken to another "secret prison."

Aafia Siddiqui, 37, is accused of grabbing a U.S. warrant officer's rifle while she was detained for questioning in July 2008 in Afghanistan's Ghazni province and firing at FBI agents and military personnel as she was wrestled to the ground.

None of them was injured, but Siddiqui, whom the U.S. government has accused of links with al Qaeda, was shot. She is charged with attempted murder, assault and other crimes and faces life in prison if convicted.

On the witness stand, Siddiqui -- a tiny, frail woman -- said that on the day of the incident she was afraid U.S. soldiers were preparing to move her to another secret prison and was trying to slip out of the interrogation room.

She denied shooting at anyone.

"This is the biggest joke, that sometimes I've been forced to smile under my scarf -- no," said Siddiqui, who testified over the objections of her attorneys. "My concern was being transferred back to some other secret prison."

The case raises questions that may never be aired in court. Was Siddiqui held in a U.S. secret prison as she claims? Where are her two youngest children? Does she have ties to al Qaeda?

"We believe that this woman was kidnapped with her children in March of 2003 and that she has been held in custody by either Pakistani authorities or Americans in any of their dark side areas," one of Siddiqui's original lawyers said in 2008.

The trial, which began last week at Manhattan federal court, is centered on the alleged shooting itself and evidence about the time leading up to it is inadmissible.

AL QAEDA OPERATIVE?

Siddiqui and her three children disappeared in the Pakistani port city of Karachi in 2003, where she was living at the time, her family and Pakistani human rights groups say.

They believe she was held at Bagram, the main U.S. base in neighboring Afghanistan, and that she was raped and tortured, although they do not say what evidence they have for that.

They say Siddiqui reappeared in July 2008 when she was arrested along with her eldest son, who is now a teenager, near an Afghan police facility in Ghazni.

That son is now living with Siddiqui's sister in Pakistan. The whereabouts of her two youngest children are unknown.

The U.S. government paints a different picture.

In 2004 Siddiqui was described by the FBI as an "al Qaeda operative and facilitator who posed a clear and present danger to America." But the charges against Siddiqui do not mention the group.

Witnesses said at the time of her arrest in 2008 that Siddiqui was carrying containers of unidentified chemicals and notes referring to mass-casualty attacks and New York landmarks such as the Empire State Building and Wall Street.

When faced with the notes under cross examination, Siddiqui said she could not say for sure if she had written them, but denied knowing how to make a bomb.

When a prosecutor asked about a "pistol safety" course she took in the 1990s, Siddiqui said she had no memory of that.

Last July, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman ruled Siddiqui was fit to stand trial, but her mental state has repeatedly become an issue.

She has interrupted witness testimony repeatedly and has been removed from the courtroom.

(Reporting by Edith Honan, editing by Xavier Briand)


U.S.

Hmmmm, Just caught this on the news here at about 8.00am, I thought id post it here just to have it logged if you will because on GMTV the story was quite abit different.

On GMTV they stated that when on trial the woman is reported to have said 'This is punishment from isreal' or something along those lines

also they talked of the people she shot at as 'agents'

Strange story ill withhold any personal opinion untill more 'facts' come to light

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