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Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill American soldiers and F.B.I. agents in Afghanistan, was sentenced to 86 years in prison on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The case of the scientist, Aafia Siddiqui, 38, had attracted wide attention, including in Pakistan where she was portrayed by politicians and the news media as a heroine, as well as from human rights groups. Her lawyers had requested a sentence of 12 years, while prosecutors had pressed for a life sentence.

Pakistan's prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called Aafia Siddiqui as "the daughter of the nation" on Friday and vowed to campaign for her release from an American jail.

“The International Justice Network stands in solidarity with the international community in condemning this unfair and unjust result in Dr. Siddiqui’s case.” “This sentence is not only unjust because of its harshness to Dr. Siddiqui - but also because of its impact on her two small children in Pakistan who may never see their mother again,” “This case is not over. This is just the beginning,” Tina Foster of the International Justice Network told reporters, adding that the real importance of the case, her group believes, is that it draws attention to thousands of disappearances in Pakistan.

Aafia Siddiqui was arrested in 2008, when she was carrying in her purse instructions on making explosives and a list of New York landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building.

In 2008, Ms. Siddiqui was taken into custody in Ghazni, Afghanistan, after the local authorities became suspicious of her loitering outside the provincial governor’s compound. While in custody, on July 18, 2008, prosecutors said, Ms. Siddiqui grabbed an M4 rifle from a police station floor and fired on Army officers and F.B.I. agents. She was shot in the abdomen.

Siddiqui was allowed to speak at length at the hearing. In an emotional rush of sentences, she denied that she was mentally ill and repeatedly invoked the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) in urging Muslims not to respond to her sentence with violence.
“I am asking all the Muslims: Don’t do an act of violence,” she said in court. If you want to do anything for me, educate them about Islam,” she said, saying it is a religion of peace that has made her happy and content, even in prison.

Pakistani Scientist Gets 86 Years for Firing at Americans