NEW YORK: A 16-member jury was chosen on Thursday for Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s trial next week, as the Pakistani neuroscientist repeatedly interrupted questioning of potential jurors about the Sept 11 terrorist attacks.

Of the 16 jurors, 12 will be part of the jury team and four will be alternate team in case someone falls sick.

“I have nothing to do with 9/11,” Ms Siddiqui declared when a potential juror who cited her personal experience on Sept 11 was dismissed. Dr Aafia suggested Israel was behind the attacks.

Ms Siddiqui’s trial for allegedly shooting at her US interrogators in Afghanistan last July begins in the US District Court in Manhattan on January 19. She’s not facing terrorism charges.

When Judge Richard Berman quizzed the jury panel whether their 9/11 experiences would influence their deliberations, Ms Siddiqui stood up from the defence table.

“The next question will be on anti-Semitism, Israel was behind 9/11. That’s not anti-Semitic,” she said before being escorted out.

Judge Berman later said that anyone who disrupts proceedings will be removed, but that Ms Siddiqui has a right to be present for her trial and would be allowed to return.

On Wednesday, Ms Siddiqui demanded that Jews should be excluded from the jury at her trial.

Ms Siddiqui has repeatedly said she is boycotting her own trial and has attempted to make her case directly to prospective jurors and the judge.

In the end on Thursday, a jury of seven women and five men was chosen, with four alternate jurors, two men and two women.

Ms Siddiqui is accused of attempted murder of US Army officer by grabbing rifle during an interrogation in Afghanistan in July 2008.

SOURCE: Dawn.com

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