A closer look at the case of Aafia Siddiqui, jailed in Texas

Suspect in Texas synagogue hostage situation demands release of Pakistani woman accused of trying to kill US troops in Afghanistan

People rally in Karachi in 2011 demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted in February 2010 of two counts of attempted murder. AP file

The man who authorities say was holding hostages inside a Texas synagogue on Saturday demanded the release of a Pakistani woman who is imprisoned nearby on charges of trying to kill American service members in Afghanistan.

The woman, Aafia Siddiqui, is serving an 86-year prison sentence after being convicted in Manhattan in 2010 on charges that she sought to shoot US military officers while being detained in Afghanistan two years earlier.

For the Justice Department, which had accused Siddiqui of being an Al Qaeda operative, it was a significant conviction in the fight against international extremism.

But to her supporters, many of whom believed in her innocence, the case embodied what they saw as an overzealous post 9/11-American judicial system.

Who is Aafia Siddiqui:

She's a Pakistani neuroscientist who studied in the United States at prestigious institutions — Brandeis University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She attracted the attention of American law enforcement in the years after the September 11 attacks. Top FBI and Justice Department described her as an “Al Qaeda operative and facilitator” at a May 2004 news conference in which they warned of intelligence showing Al Qaeda planned an attack in the coming months.

In 2008, she was detained by authorities in Afghanistan. American officials said they found in her possession handwritten notes that discussed the construction of so-called “dirty bombs” and that listed various locations in the US that could be targeted in a “mass casualty attack.”

Inside an interview room at an Afghan police compound, authorities say, she grabbed the M-4 rifle of a US army officer and opened fire on members of the US team assigned to interrogate her.

She was convicted in 2010 on charges including attempting to kill US nationals outside the United States.

At her sentencing hearing, she gave rambling statements in which she delivered a message of world peace — and also forgave the judge. She expressed frustration at arguments from her own lawyers who said she deserved leniency because she was mentally ill.

"I’m not paranoid,” she said at one point. “I don’t agree with that.”

What was the reaction?

Pakistani officials immediately decried the punishment, which prompted protests in multiple cities and criticism in the media.

The prime minister at the time, Yousuf Raza Gilani, called her the “daughter of the nation” and vowed to campaign for her release from jail.

In the years since, Pakistani leaders have openly floated the idea of swaps or deals that could result in her release.

Siddiqui is being held at a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas. She was attacked in July by another inmate at the facility and suffered serious injuries, according to court documents.