January 29, 2010, New York, NY – International Justice Network attorneys have been monitoring the trial of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, which began on January 19, and continues this week in U.S. Federal Court in the Southern District of New York.

Tina M. Foster, Executive Director the International Justice Network and spokesperson for Muhammad Siddiqui, Aafia’s brother, issued the following statement today on behalf of her U.S.-based family:

On Friday, an Afghan police officer, Mr. Bashir, testified that he saw an American officer walk behind the curtain just before he heard gun shots, and that he never saw Dr. Siddiqui pick up a gun. The defense then rested, and the prosecution offered rebuttal witnesses, intended to respond to the evidence presented by the defense.  First, the prosecution called a firing range owner, Gary Woodworth, who testified that he remembered Dr. Siddiqui coming to the shooting range.  However, Mr. Woodworth also admitted that there were no records of Dr. Siddiqui ever having visited the shooting range, and that even if she had, it could have been as part of her physical education requirements at MIT.  The prosecution also called FBI Special Agent Bruce Kammerman, who testified that while recuperating at Bagram Airbase hospital, Dr. Siddiqui had told him that she had picked up the gun because she wanted to scare people in order to ease her escape.  However, on cross-examination, Agent Kammerman admitted that his original handwritten notes about the conversation did not mention anything about a gun, but only Dr. Siddiqui's desire to escape, and that the reference to the gun was added only in the final typed report. The prosecution completed its questioning of another FBI agent who interviewed Dr. Siddiqui while in the hospital, Angela Sercer, and the defense's cross examination of Agent Sercer will begin on Monday. The trial proceedings may end as early as Monday afternoon, with jury deliberations to begin immediately thereafter.