NEW YORK: A US-educated Pakistani woman was found guilty on Wednesday of trying to kill American servicemen in Afghanistan.

Aafia Siddiqui, 37, a neuroscientist trained at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was found guilty on all charges by a jury in federal court. Aafia was convicted of charges that she tried to kill Americans while detained in Afghanistan in 2008. A family lawyer immediately announced an appeal, citing “prejudice and bias.”

Siddiqui was accused of grabbing a rifle at an Afghan police station, where she was being interrogated in July 2008 and trying to gun down a group of the US servicemen. Although she was not charged with terrorism, prosecutors described her as a would-be terrorist, who had also plotted to bomb New York. Her lawyers tried to prove she was insane, but a judge ruled her fit to stand trial.

Tina Monshipour, an attorney for Siddiqui’s family, said afterwards: “This verdict is being subject to an appeal.” “There were a lot of unfair decisions,” Monshipour said, adding “She was portrayed as a terrorist even if there were no terrorism charges in this trial. This is one of those cases in which we see prejudice and bias invade the courtroom.”

Siddiqui, wearing a white veil, repeatedly disrupted her trial with outbursts at the jury, witnesses and her own lawyers, including claims that she was a victim of Israel. After being found guilty, she responded in similar fashion, saying: “This is a verdict from Israel, not America. The anger should be directed where it belongs.”

Prosecutors claimed that Siddiqui was arrested by the Afghan police in the town of Ghazni with notes indicating plans to attack the Statue of Liberty and other New York landmarks. However, she was charged only with attempted murder.

Prosecutors said she picked up a rifle in the police station where she was being held and opened fire on US servicemen and FBI representatives. She missed and was herself shot by one of the US soldiers.

Defence lawyers argued that there was no physical evidence, such as finger prints or gunpowder traces, to show Siddiqui even grabbed the rifle, let alone opened fire. Human rights groups have long speculated that Siddiqui may have been secretly imprisoned and tortured at the US base in Bagram, Afghanistan, during the five years prior to the 2008 incident.

The US military has denied she was ever held at the base. Siddiqui was living in Pakistan when she vanished in March 2003.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Wednesday voiced dismay after a US court found a Pakistani woman guilty of trying to kill American troops in Afghanistan and vowed to press her case. “We are dismayed over the unexpected verdict of the jury in Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s case,” Pakistan’s embassy in Washington said in a statement.

“The government of Pakistan made intense diplomatic and legal efforts on her behalf and will consult the family of Dr Aafia Siddiqui and the team of defence lawyers to determine the future course of action,” it said. “The government will do all that is needed to provide justice to her as a Pakistani citizen,” it added.