Posted on Mon, Aug. 11, 2008

A federal judge on Monday ordered the U.S. government to provide a doctor within 24 hours to tend to the bullet wounds of a Pakistani woman charged with trying to kill U.S. employees in a gunfight in Afghanistan.

A frail-looking Aafia Siddiqui, with a white scarf on her head, sat in a wheelchair as U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman ordered the medical care after her lawyers complained she was in pain and possibly was bleeding internally after being treated in Afghanistan for one or more bullet wounds.

The wounds were sustained in a July 18 encounter in which prosecutors allege she snatched a soldier's rifle and pointed it at an Army captain. Siddiqui's family has insisted that she is not guilty.

Defense lawyer Elizabeth Fink said there were reports that Siddiqui may have lost a kidney and suffered brain damage.

''None of us know the answer, and we have to find out,'' Fink said.

Fink said Siddiqui also needed to be evaluated by a doctor so she would not become infected if internal bleeding had occurred.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher L. Lavigne said medical treatment was delayed because Siddiqui had refused to see a male physician since she was brought to the United States a week ago. Fink said her client was willing to be seen by a male doctor.

Siddiqui was brought to the United States to face attempted-murder and assault charges.

Siddiqui is the wife of Ammar al Baluchi, a former CIA-held terror suspect now facing death penalty trial by military commission as an alleged co-conspirator in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Baluchi, the nephew of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, has been held at the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, since September 2006.

She had 8 to 10 inches of stitches in her abdomen and had been told that part of her intestines was taken out, said another lawyer for her, Elaine Whitfield Sharp.

The judge said the injuries were not trivial and needed immediate care, and he asked the prosecutor what stood in the way of proper medical care.

Lavigne called Siddiqui a high-security risk because ''she tried to shoot her way out'' of custody several weeks ago.

''I appreciate what you're saying,'' the judge replied. ``If somebody has gunshot wounds, I think they need to be seen.''

Outside the courthouse, about two dozen supporters of Siddiqui paraded with signs seeking her freedom. One sign said: ``Proud to be Americans. Where is your human rights?''

If convicted, Siddiqui faces up to 20 years in prison on each charge.